BAR GETS SECOND LIFE AFTER KILLING
ABCC says city's punishment not backed up
The state’s top alcohol licensing agency says Boston was wrong to punish Sons of Boston, a downtown sports bar forced to close after a bouncer allegedly stabbed a patron to death.
The Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission just ruled that it “disapproves” of the Boston Licensing Board’s indefinite suspension of Sons of Boston’s liquor and entertainment licenses, according to a signed ABCC decision document.
ABCC’s disapproval, driven by a lack of substantial evidence into the bar’s multiple violations alleged by the city, provides Sons of Boston an opportunity to reopen the doors to its Union Street bar near Faneuil Hall.
“The Boston Licensing Board takes its responsibility to oversee the safety of all patrons and staff at licensed premises seriously,” a city spokesperson said in a statement to the Herald on Thursday. “The Board stands by its decision in this case, but will comply with the ABCC’s decision.”
Carolyn Conway, attorney representing Sons of Boston, told the Herald she hasn’t received permission from her client to provide comment as to if and when the bar will come back.
Sons of Boston, also known as SOB, lost its licenses indefinitely in the weeks following the March 19, 2022, incident in which bouncer Alvaro Larrama, a 39-year-old East Boston father of four, is accused of stabbing 23-year-old U.S. Marine veteran Daniel Martinez to death outside the bar after the two got into a confrontation.
Martinez, who lived south of Chicago, was visiting Boston for St. Patrick’s Day weekend.
The Boston Licensing Board forced the bar to close last April when it suspended its liquor license, shortly after the Mayor’s Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing pulled its entertainment license.
The city Licensing Board found Sons of Boston had a handful of violations including 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 during an April hearing.
One of Larrama’s coworkers, Alisha Dumeer, 34, of Everett, was charged with accessory after the fact to Martinez’s murder. The daytime bartender and 4% owner of the bar is accused of helping Larrama change out of bloody clothes at the scene.
ABCC’s decision this week to overturn the Boston board’s indefinite suspension came months after Causeway Union LLC/ Sons of Boston appealed the city’s action.
The state commission determined Boston failed to introduce any direct evidence of the violations. Three city officers who testified before the commission during a September hearing were not in the area of the bar when the fatal stabbing took place, according to ABCC’s decision document.
“As a result, none of them have direct knowledge as to what occurred,” the ABCC states.
ABCC also received three non-eyewitness police reports as evidence from Boston, but the city failed to provide evidence to back up those reports.
“Non-eyewitness police reports are classic totem pole hearsay and, without more, do not constitute substantial evidence,” according to the ABCC.
Even if the police reports had been corroborated, the local board did not provide evidence of the bar’s conduct, the ABCC states.
Boston police did not immediately respond to a Herald email seeking comment Thursday.