BOSTON - A member of Primeiro Comando da Massachusetts (“PCM"), a gang with Brazilian origins, was sentenced yesterday in connection with committing armed robberies.
Alvaro Dos Santos Melo, 22, a Brazilian national illegally residing in Everett, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris to four years in prison. The defendant will face deportation proceedings upon completion of his sentence. On Jan. 25, 2021, Melo pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and racketeering conspiracy.
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.
Melo participated in the armed robbery of a car in Marlborough and a conspiracy to commit armed robbery of a drug courier. Melo is also wanted in Brazil.
All eight of the defendants in the case pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and other charges. In February 2021, Judge Saris sentenced co-defendant Breno Henrique DaSilva to 108 months in prison. In April 2021, Judge Saris sentenced co-defendant Matheus Marley Machado to 27 months in prison.
Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; 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. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Moran, Deputy Chief of Mendell’s Organized Crime and Gang Unit, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Crowley prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
