S.O.B. SHUT OFF
Bar licenses suspended after Marine stabbed to death
Boston’s Licensing Board has “indefinitely” suspended the licenses of Sons of Boston, the downtown bar where a bouncer is charged with stabbing an out-oftown Marine to death last month.
“The entire security operation from beginning to end was a failure,” Board Chair Kathleen Joyce said in a lengthy statement she read before the vote to suspend the licenses “indefinitely.” “I do not believe that they are operating a law-abiding business.”
Sons of Boston, also known as SOB, had already lost its entertainment license after the fatal stabbing outside the Union Street bar last month. Alvaro Larrama, a 39year-old East Boston father of four, is charged with stabbing 23-year-old U.S. Marine veteran Daniel Martinez to death after the pair apparently got into a confrontation outside the bar on the weekend after St. Patrick’s Day.
Joyce and others described the incident as “foreseeable” based on previous issues. Members also pointed to the evidence that no restaurant staff apparently called the cops — but some, according to video viewed by members, helped Larrama get a change of clothes — as evidence that management was either “unable or unwilling” to handle these situations.
The board members voted unanimously to find violations on all counts, and they suspended the bar’s licenses to serve “indefinitely.”
Those board violations include an employee assaulting a patron with a deadly weapon, employee making bodily contact with a patron, armed security without prior board approval and failing to call police. The bar also didn’t background check Larrama, officials said in the Tuesday hearing.
During a hearing on the matter earlier this week, the bar’s lawyer, Carolyn Conway, said this “tragic and senseless death” at the bar was “not foreseeable by the licensee.”
“We just did not condone anybody having any weapons,” she said then. Conway couldn’t be reached for comment on Thursday.
Larrama, who was working as a bouncer at the bar, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Martinez, who was in town from Illinois and
out celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with a Marine Corps buddy.
Martinez and his friend went to the Sons of Boston pub on busy Union Street, spending time inside the bar without incident. They then left and apparently got back in line to return to the bar.
While standing in line, Martinez and the bouncer appeared to get into a confrontation,
according to video obtained by police. Martinez then began walking away, and Larrama allegedly chased after him, according to police. The bouncer is accused of then attacking Martinez and stabbing him to death.
Larrama allegedly went inside the bar after the stabbing, cleaning blood off of himself and turning his shirt
inside out, then left the pub through the back door.
Following the initial crime scene investigation, the Boston Police’s Licensed Premises Unit returned to issue violations to the bar, ultimately saying that the establishment had armed security without prior board approval. Cops also seized the entertainment license, leading it to shut its doors.