Ronan Hughes, who was described as the ring leader behind the people smuggling operation that led to the deaths of 39 people, has been jailed for 20 years.
The 41 year old from Tyholland in Co Monaghan was sentenced in the Old Bailey in London today.
He had pleaded guilty to 39 counts of manslaughter.
Gheorghe Nica of Basildon in Essex who was also involved in organising the operation was jailed for 27 years.
Lorry drivers Maurice Robinson of Craigavon, Co Armagh and Eamon Harrison of Mayobridge, Co Down were jailed for 13 years and four month and 18 years respectively.
The Vietnamese migrants - aged between 15 and 44 - paid nearly €15,000 each hoping for a better life in the UK.
But in October 2019, they were crammed into a container shipped from Belgium to south east England - spending 12 hours in temperatures that reached close to 40 degrees.
The bodies of the 39 migrants were then discovered in an industrial park in Essex.