Bar Where Marine Was Stabbed, Killed Loses Liquor License

BOSTON — Boston's Licensing Board voted to indefinitely suspend Sons of Boston's licenses for violations on the night that a Marine veteran was stabbed to death. A bouncer employed by the bar is facing charges in connection to the St. Patrick's Day weekend killing.

The bar manager told members of the licensing board that he was working behind the bar due to staffing troubles and high volume as the city dropped the mask mandate; and admitted to not running a background check on the bouncer, Alvaro Omar Larrama, 38, of East Boston, last summer when he was hired.

Members of the licensing board cited these issues among some of the reasons for their decision. Sons of Boston's entertainment license was suspended indefinitely after police said the establishment failed to call the police following the bouncer's suspected role in the incident and had allowed armed security without approval.

Larrama surrendered to police on Monday, March 21, two days after 23-year-old Daniel Martinez was fatally stabbed. Martinez was a former Marine visiting a friend in Boston for the holiday weekend but lived in Illinois.

A licensing hearing took place earlier this week, and managers told the Board of Licensing they had no idea Larrama had a weapon and did not think he would get violent. The bar's attorney Carolyn Conway said "Neither by the history with this former employee or anything else gave us any kind of indication that this could happen."

"Someone died directly at the hands of their staff based on their negligent hiring practices, their utter lack of proper training in their recent prior reports of violent staff," said Board Chairwoman Kathleen Joyce. "It should have been foreseeable that an event like this could have happened."

"I absolutely agree. I think it was a series of abject failures, either intentionally or through negligence," board member Keeana Saxon chimed in. "This whole incident could have been prevented. Someone could have intervened. Someone could have reported to management. Someone could have called the police."

Martinez served in the Marines from September 2017 through September 2021, attaining the rank of sergeant, the U.S. Marine Corps confirmed. His family is filing a lawsuit against the bar to demand answers.

"The lawsuit will give us subpoena power and require Sons of Boston to be transparent and turn over everything they have regarding this horrific incident," Thomas Flaws, the lawyer representing the Martinez family said in a meeting over Zoom last month.

On Saturday, March 19, police responded to the Union Street bar just after 7 p.m. after receiving reports of a stabbing. Upon arrival, police found Martinez suffering from a single stab wound to the chest. Emergency crews brought him to the hospital where he later died.

According to prosecutors, surveillance footage shows Larrama denying Martinez and a friend entrance to the pub, then following them down the block towards Paddy O's. In the video, prosecutors say Martinez hit Larrama in the head with an aluminum beer bottle, then Larrama struck Martinez in the chest.

Police say Larrama then returned to Sons of Boston, where he washed his hands, threw away his sweatshirt, turned his shirt inside out, and left out a back entrance of the bar.
Boston police issued a warrant for Larrama's arrest after a few of his colleagues identified him as the person who stabbed Martinez, but he turned himself in two days later, police say.

Larrama is currently being held without bail.

"The heartbreak for Mr. Martinez's family, and for all those who knew and served with him, is incalculable," Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said. "This is also heartbreaking for Boston because it represents an image of the city that does not truly reflect who we are."