The Boston Licensing Board voted unanimously Thursday to suspend the liquor license of Sons of Boston, a downtown bar whose bouncer allegedly stabbed a former Marine to death in an altercation near the establishment on the evening of March 19.
The 3-0 vote to indefinitely suspend the license came after board members ripped the bar for what they said were lax safety protocols and management leading up to the fatal stabbing of former Marine Daniel Martinez, 23, allegedly by Alvaro O. Larrama, 38, who was working that night as a bouncer.
Larrama is being held on murder charges in Martinez’s death and has been fired by the bar. He has pleaded not guilty in the stabbing.
“I see multiple violations by Sons of Boston,” said board chair Kathleen Joyce during Thursday’s Zoom meeting before the vote. “The entire security operation from beginning to end was a failure.”
A lawyer for Sons of Boston didn’t respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
“The failure to have a security plan, the absence of any meaningful training plan in place on March 19, and a lack of management led to serious public safety issues, and now Daniel Martinez is dead,” Joyce said. “I believe his death was foreseeable and preventable.”
Joyce noted that Sons of Boston manager Jason Kuczynski testified Tuesday that Larrama never signed necessary paperwork for a criminal background check before he was hired — a “clear violation” of city policy.
Court records show Larrama has been arrested multiple times during the past five years on domestic violence charges, including allegations he threw his former wife into a shelving unit and dragged her to the ground by her hair.
Prosecutors said on the afternoon of March 19, Martinez and a friend stopped by Sons of Boston on Union Street and had no problems. But shortly after 6 p.m., Martinez and his friend returned to the crowded bar and waited outside in line while Larrama manned the door.
Larrama wouldn’t let them inside, and after a brief exchange Martinez and his friend walked away, prosecutors have said. But Larrama, of East Boston, called someone over to take his place and followed them down the street.
When Larrama approached, Martinez turned toward him with his arm raised, as if to block a blow, according to a police account of the altercation. Martinez hit him with an aluminum beer bottle, and a fight broke out. Eventually, Larrama took out a knife and stabbed Martinez twice in his chest, killing him, authorities have said.
“Mr. Kuczynski also testified that never at any point during the events of March 19 did anyone from Sons of Boston call the police, even after Mr. Larrama disappeared from the premises,” Joyce said Thursday before the board’s vote. “This is a stunning lapse in judgment and it breached their duty as an operator. Not only were the police not called, but nobody did anything to detain Mr. Larrama” following the stabbing.
Joyce pointed to video footage provided by the bar as another factor in her decision to vote for suspension.
She said the footage shows Larrama after the stabbing “walking freely around the establishment, talking to several employees, including Mr. Kuczynski. And at another point we see a female employee bringing him a change of clothes in the basement before he [Larrama] ultimately leaves out the back door.”
Bar employees had testified Tuesday that they didn’t know Larrama had allegedly stabbed Martinez before he exited from the rear of the establishment.
“On March 19, either Sons of Boston and its employees had absolutely no idea what was happening directly outside involving its own security staff, or knew what had happened and chose to do nothing in response,” Joyce said. She later added that she does not believe “they are operating a law-abiding business. I believe its unsafe for them to continue to operate.”
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.