1997. I was bouncing at a strip bar right outside Toledo and a guy didn't want to pay the pay, him and his friends got mouthy and aggressive. I was a typical young hot head.
careful bro........my friend worked security in boston at some clubs outside Fenway park
Framingham -
FRAMINGHAM - If a man can be measured in the number of people who mourn his death and smile at his memory, then Craig Viera lived a full life in his 32 years of bodybuilding, covering himself with tattoos and taking care of others.
Hundreds of mourners filled the pews and lined the back of St. Bridget's Church Friday to say goodbye to Viera, who died Dec. 8 from stab wounds he received while working as a Boston nightclub bouncer. Family and friends remembered the "toughest man" and teddy bear who protected others.
"Craig was the strongest security blanket any one of us ever had," said Viera's friend Adam Gould, who eulogized the Framingham man while flanked by two other friends, Mike Winter and Mike Westerling.
Besides working security at Club Embassy in Boston, Viera was a personal fitness trainer, and a trainer at Gold's Gym in Natick. He was training to become a professional strongman.
In a church already decorated for Christmas, people wore buttons with Viera's picture on them, and others wore T-shirts that read, "Train With Craig V," as they listened to the eulogy. The night before, Gould said, family members and close friends were at a restaurant talking about Viera, and a couple of other customers stopped by to remember Viera and offer their condolences.
"We didn't even know who these people were," Gould said. "He impacted so many people, it was unbelievable."
Gould talked about how, to show solidarity with a woman undergoing cancer treatment, Viera had his head shaved, leaving only enough hair to display the woman's initials on the back of his head.
For the people who knew him, Viera was someone who worked hard and played just as hard, a "class act" who loved watching professional wrestling and collecting sports memorabilia, loved his motorcycle and took pride in being able to bench press 500 pounds. Viera was also someone who had no problem impressing women, his friend remembered.
"We all know Craig was a smooth talker," Gould said.
With Viera's death, Gould said, they have lost so much a sense of security, Viera's motivating presence in their lives, and the chance to see the tattoo lover's "biggest work of art completed, his body."
Viera was working at the Boston nightclub on Nov. 26 when he was attacked by a group of men and stabbed in the liver. About a week after he was released from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, he died of his injuries. Oscar Rosa, 20, of Natick, has been charged with Viera's murder.
The Rev. Michael Harvey, who led the funeral Mass, said Viera wasn't the first person people would worry about working as a bouncer, because "he can take care of himself." His death should remind people that it takes "one little chink in the armor" to make anyone vulnerable, Harvey said. But Viera's example also speaks of a selflessness rare in this world, he said.
"In a way, Craig was that special person," Harvey said. "He was willing to lay down his life for others."
Harvey urged mourners to forgive instead of hate, though that doesn't mean justice shouldn't be served for Viera's murder.
"Justice must take place," Harvey said, "along with forgiveness."
In his remarks, Gould mentioned Viera's father, the late Edward Viera, and made a promise to Viera's mother.
"Sybil, you lost a son. Don't ever forget you had a bigger family than you ever had before Craig's death," Gould said. He said that he, Westerling and Winter would always be there for her. "We will watch over you, as three sons."
Gould said friends and family members will have plenty of reminders of Viera, even if it's "hearing thunder in the skies, knowing it's Craig working out in heaven." He said he and others will carry on Viera's legacy.
"Craig, we love you and we will never forget," Gould said. "Stay strong, brother. Never give up. Never."
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BOSTON — A jury must decide whether a nightclub bouncer died from a stab wound inflicted by Oscar Rosa, as a prosecutor argues, or from steroid use, as the Natick man's attorney contends.
After more than four hours of deliberation, a Suffolk Superior Court jury yesterday was unable to reach a verdict.
Rosa, 21, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Craig Viera, who was stabbed in the abdomen following an altercation between Rosa and a group of friends and the club's security staff outside the Embassy nightclub on Lansdowne Street on Nov. 26, 2006.
Viera, a Framingham resident and personal trainer at Gold's Gym in Natick, died nearly two weeks later, on Dec. 8.
Deliberations will resume Tuesday. Court will not be in session Monday, which is the President's Day holiday.
Before they began deliberating, jurors listened to final arguments, with defense attorney John Hayes telling them the case came down to a simple fact.
"I ask you to remember the simple result of the DNA test that showed Craig Viera's blood was not on the knife the commonwealth claims is the murder weapon in this case," he said. "In this case, there are two issues, how Mr. Viera died, and whether or not Oscar Rosa was the person who stabbed him."
In the case of Viera's death, Hayes said, the answer is simple.
An admitted user of steroids, Viera - despite his outward appearance - was "not a healthy man," Hayes suggested.
Steroids had enlarged Viera's heart and liver, he argued, and had caused blood clots similar, though smaller, than the one that ultimately killed him.
"This was a pre-existing medical condition," Hayes told jurors. "Oscar Rosa did not kill Craig Viera, because nobody killed Craig Viera. Steroids killed Craig Viera."
Hayes also cast doubt on the testimony of the handful of bouncers who witnessed the attack, suggesting their stories were somehow coordinated.
"It's interesting how they're all so consistent," he said. "It's almost like they're all reading from the same script."
Prosecutor Rahsaan Hall, however, suggested Hayes' arguments were simply an attempt to blame the victim.
"Craig Viera didn't die from steroid use," Hall told jurors. "Craig Viera didn't die from an enlarged liver. Craig Viera didn't die from some pre-existing medical condition. Craig Viera died because this defendant stabbed him."
Hall said Rosa and his friends went to the Embassy club that night to have a good time, and "play big time," by showing off and sneaking into the club's VIP section.
When bouncers confronted them, however, things quickly turned sour.
Several bouncers testified that Rosa twice had to be restrained, Hall reminded jurors, and the group was eventually thrown out of the club.
"Do they leave?" Hall asked. "No. What do they do? They turn right around, and they stand there outside those doors and they try to get back in.
"Oscar Rosa had motive to stab Craig Viera. He represented the people that had given him a hard time, the people who had given his friends a hard time. He armed himself instead of leaving. That was the manifestation of his intent to kill Craig Viera, and as a result of that, 13 days later Craig Viera lay lifeless in front of his mother with a blood clot the size of a human finger in his lungs."
PIP brutha
