BOSTON – A Brazilian national residing in Malden, Mass. was sentenced in federal court in Boston for lying on his asylum application and at an immigration hearing. Upon applying for a U.S. Visa, the defendant never disclosed his arrest in a case involving the murders of 11 people, mostly teenagers, in Brazil in retaliation for the death of a police officer, an incident known as The Slaughter of Curió.
According to the Massachusetts Department of Justice, 31-year-old Antonio Jose De Abreu Vidal Filho was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper to 16 months in prison. De Abreu is subject to deportation upon completion of the imposed sentence. In February 2025, De Abreu pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury. In May 2024, De Abreu was indicted by a federal grand jury.
In April 2014, De Abreu joined the Ceara State Military Police – Brazilian state forces who, under the governor, do first line policing on the street. In the early morning hours of Nov. 12, 2015, numerous Brazilian military police officers employed by the government of the Brazilian state of Ceará, including De Abreu, participated in a mass killing event of primarily young people from the impoverished neighborhoods of Barroso, Messejana, Guajeru, Curió and Lagoa Redonda in the capital of Ceará…