BOSTON — A Brazilian national living in Worcester has been sentenced to federal prison for his role in a “large-scale” human smuggling ring to illegally move migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border and into several U.S. cities, including Boston, the U.S. Attorney said Friday.
Flavio Alexandre Alves, a/k/a “Ronaldo,” 42, who is in the U.S. illegally and was previously convicted of human smuggling in California, was sentenced to 30 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in a statement.
U.S. District Court Judge Margaret Guzman handed down his sentence. Alves is subject to deportation upon completion of the imposed sentence, Foley said.
In October 2025, Alves pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to bring aliens to and transport aliens within the United States, one count of conspiracy to launder money, and one count of unlawful reentry of a deported alien.
Alves was previously arrested and charged by criminal complaint with human smuggling in March 2025. He remains in federal custody.
Alves’ arrest last March was made during an international law enforcement operation targeting a transnational criminal organization responsible for the illicit smuggling of hundreds of people from Brazil to the United States, Foley said.
As part of the ring, Alves was responsible for buying airline tickets for foreign nationals – including families and groups – to fly them to various places within the United States, prosecutors said.
Last March, Foley released a photograph showing Alves with another person on a Walmart surveillance video executing a money transfer to a Brazilian national who was later found illegally entering the United States.
According to the charging documents, Alves was previously convicted of human smuggling offenses in the Central District of California in 2004 and subsequently deported to Brazil in February 2005.
Prosecutors said that sometime after his removal, Alves illegally re-entered the U.S. and has been residing in this country without immigration status.
In April 2022, an investigation began into a human smuggling organization operating in the United States, Brazil and Mexico, that smuggles Brazilian nationals through Mexico, across the U.S.-Mexico border and into the U.S. for financial gain and laundering the proceeds.
Investigators identified Alves as a domestic-based smuggler for the organization. He joined the organization in mid-2021.
Prosecutors said that Alves coordinated with co-conspirators in Brazil and Mexico to facilitate the transportation of Brazilian nationals into the United States; to launder funds to Mexico to support the organization; and to collect smuggling fees paid by or on behalf of the Brazilian nationals being smuggled.
In his role in the human smuggling ring, Alves purchased airline tickets for Brazilian nationals to travel from border cities to other locations across the United States shortly after they were encountered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and released from detention, prosecutors said.
Between May 2021 and August 2022, Alves purchased more than 100 individual airline tickets from Tucson or Phoenix shortly after U.S. Customs and Border Protection encounters, to destination cities in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, including Boston, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Philadelphia, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said that Alves sent money to aliens and smugglers located in Mexico to pay for expenses associated with transit into the United States.
Bank and financial records obtained during the investigation revealed that Alves sent hundreds of thousands of dollars in money transfers to facilitate the travel of aliens who were later encountered by immigration authorities illegally crossing into the United States, prosecutors said. He then paid smugglers in Mexico for their role in the organization.
Alves used different methods to conceal the nature and frequency of the transfers, including using in-person money transfer services at various locations throughout Massachusetts, providing different variations of his name and home address, and having other close associates conduct the transactions for him, prosecutors said.
Alves also collected payments from the Brazilian nationals as the fee for being smuggled into the U.S. – taking a percentage of the fee as his “cut,” prosecutors said, before transferring the remainder of the money to other members of the human smuggling organization based in Mexico.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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