Brazilian National Sentenced for Racketeering & Robbery Conspiracies; Defendant Admits To Kidnapping & Armed Robbery

The following is a press release from the U.S. Justice Department

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BOSTON – A member of Primeiro Comando da Massachusetts (“PCM”), a gang with Brazilian origins, was sentenced yesterday in connection with committing armed robberies and kidnapping.

Breno Henrique DaSilva, 22, a Brazilian national illegally residing in Somerville, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris to 108 months in prison. The defendant will face deportation proceedings upon completion of his sentence. On Oct. 15, 2020, DaSilva pleaded guilty to conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs by a pattern of racketeering and conspiracy to commit robbery. 

Henrique DaSilva was charged along with seven co-defendants in April 2019. 

According to court documents, in September 2018, law enforcement began investigating members and associates of PCM, which first appeared in Massachusetts in 2017. It is alleged that members and associates of PCM were actively involved in violent crimes including the illegal sale of firearms, drug trafficking, robberies, kidnappings and armed assaults in numerous communities in Massachusetts, including Boston, Malden, Everett, Somerville, Framingham and Peabody, among others.

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Henrique DaSilva admitted to committing armed robberies on Jan. 14, 2019, in Framingham and on Jan. 16, 2019, in Stoughton. In addition, he admitted to kidnapping a female victim in Peabody on Feb. 7, 2019. The gang believed that the female victim could help them target a rival gang member for violence. Henrique DaSilva and co-defendant Edson DaSilva (no relation) lured the victim out of a residence in Peabody and eventually took her to a residence in Maynard where she was held at gunpoint and threatened. A cooperating witness alerted law enforcement, who responded to the scene and eventually arrested Henrique DaSilva.

Edson DaSilva previously pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 23, 2021.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Kelly D. Brady, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, Boston Field Division; William S. Walker, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; and Colonel Christopher Mason, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement today. The Chelsea, Lowell, Malden, Marlborough, Somerville and Weymouth Police Departments and the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office provided assistance with the investigation.

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