Peabody Violent Crime 'General' Pleads Guilty To Gun, Drug Trafficking Charges: US Attorney

PEABODY, MA — A Brazilian national living in Peabody pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and gun charges in what the U.S. Attorney's Office said on Thursday was the prosecution of a "general" in a violent transnational criminal organization.

The U.S. Attorney's Office called Primeiro Comando da Capital "one of the largest cocaine distributors in the world and ... responsible for acts of violence and firearms trafficking."

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Adinazio Vinicius Soares Dias-Barbosa, 30, — also known as "Panda" — pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, being an alien in possession of firearms and ammunition, and engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license.

U.S. Senior District Judge William G. Young scheduled sentencing for Dec. 3.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Dias-Barbosa supplied fentanyl and cocaine to a drug trafficking network operating on the North Shore.

During the investigation, a search of Dias-Barbosa's cell phone revealed numerous messages and photographs detailing his drug trafficking activities, according to court documents.

Dias-Barbosa was stopped on Interstate 95 in South Carolina in 2025 and, police said, consented to a search of his vehicle, but ran away across the highway just before the search began.

Police said he was apprehended in the grassy median. During a subsequent search of the vehicle, police said nine rifles and ammunition were found on the floor of the rear passenger compartment.

Police said Dias-Barbosa said he had bought the guns in South Carolina and was taking them to a broker in Miami, who would arrange for the rifles to be taken to Brazil through Paraguay.

The charge of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances provides for a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, at least three years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of $1 million.