PROSECUTOR: EAST BOSTON SLAYING WAS “A CASE OF ESCALATION” Feb. 13, 2008 A Suffolk County homicide prosecutor today told a Superior Court judge that 22-year-old Nang Lim died when the man on trial ratcheted a confrontation between two groups of young men into deadly violence. “This case,” Assistant District Attorney Cory Flashner told Judge Christine McEvoy, who is hearing evidence in the case, “is about escalation – the escalation of a verbal confrontation into a fistfight, the escalation of a fistfight into a fight with a knife, the escalation of a fight with a knife to a death.” RAFAEL BONILLA, 17 (D.O.B. 3/18/84), of East Boston is charged with manslaughter in connection with Lim’s stabbing death shortly before 2:00 a.m. on June 11, 2005, after the victim, the defendant, and groups of their friends became embroiled in a violent conflict outside a Meridian Street apartment building. Two of Bonilla’s co-defendants – HECTOR RIOS, Jr. (D.O.B. 1/26/88), and EZEKIEL SANCHEZ (D.O.B. 3/14/88) – were indicted as accomplices to Lim’s homicide and have already pleaded guilty to their roles in his death. A third and Bonilla’s brother – ORLANDO “BAM” BONILLA (D.O.B. 9/12/82) – was indicted on a manslaughter charge and remains a fugitive from justice. Prosecutors expect to prove that Lim had returned to East Boston from his night job in Danvers and was sitting on the steps of 438 Meridian St. with several friends when four men – the defendant, his brother, Rios, and Sanchez – walked by shortly before 1:45 a.m. and again a moment later. A member of Lim’s party made what is believed to be a gang-related remark, prompting a member of Bonilla’s group to stop. That member “did not take kindly to the verbal exchange,” Flashner said. “Words became heated ... You will hear that the defendant escalated this situation by throwing a punch” that knocked Lim’s friend across the sidewalk. Multiple witnesses, Flashner said, are expected to testify that they saw this punch and then saw Bonilla “display a knife and go towards Nang Lim.” The man who had been punched is expected to testify that he saw the man who hit him “with a knife in his hand, standing an arm’s length from Nang Lim, who was backing up.” The knife went directly into Lim’s heart. Despite his friends’ efforts to staunch the blood flow with towels, he was pronounced dead at Massachusetts General Hospital a short time later. The knife – 13” long and stained in Lim’s blood – was recovered nearby by an 8-year-old boy, who told police what he had found. “The evidence will show that Rafael Bonilla either stabbed Nang Lim or participated in that stabbing as a joint venturer,” Flashner said. Bonilla is represented by attorney Charles Balliro. Prosecution testimony is ongoing in courtroom 808 of Suffolk Superior Court. Return to the Press Releases page.