Man who set fire that killed 87 people at a New York nightclub dies in prison

The man who started the fire that killed 87 people at a New York City nightclub 26 years ago has died at an upstate prison.

The New York Daily News reported that a state corrections spokesman said 61-year-old Julio Gonzalez died Tuesday at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in Plattsburgh. Gonzalez had been serving a 25-years-to-life sentence in the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility in nearby Dannemora.

Authorities say Gonzalez was taken to the hospital after suffering what appeared to be a heart attack. An autopsy was planned for Wednesday.

Gonzalez set fire to the illegally operated Happy Land social club in the Bronx in March 1990 after getting into an argument with his former girlfriend and being thrown out of the club.

Only six people inside the two-story club escaped, including his ex-girlfriend.