A Boston man with ties to the H-Block gang has pleaded guilty to federal drug conspiracy charges, after a multi-year probe that led to substantial seizures and multiple arrests.
Eric Celestino, 31, of Boston, entered a guilty plea yesterday in federal court in Boston to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. The plea resolves his role in a long-running investigation into a violent, city-wide drug operation tied to the H-Block street gang.
U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin set sentencing for March 18, 2026, where the court will determine an appropriate punishment under federal law. Celestino was among a group of 10 H-Block members and associates charged in August 2024 after an investigation that began in 2021 in response to rising gang-related trafficking, shootings, and other violence.
Federal filings state that investigators seized over 500 grams of cocaine, cocaine base (crack cocaine), and fentanyl during the probe, along with more than 20,000 doses of drug-laced paper. Authorities also reported significant violent activity tied to the gang: since 2021, law enforcement attributed 12 incidents of gunfire to tensions involving H-Block associates.
As the investigation unfolded, six H-Block members and associates were arrested and charged with drug dealing in Boston and nearby communities, while four additional members were already in state custody at the time of those arrests. Additional drugs and four firearms were seized in the follow-up arrests, according to court documents, which paint a picture of an organization moving both narcotics and weapons through community networks.
Court records covering the period from 2022 through 2023 indicate Celestino played an active role in the conspiracy, supplying powdered cocaine and cocaine base to co-conspirators. Those co-conspirators, the filings say, conducted multiple transactions with an undercover officer, and Celestino is specifically identified as a supplier in those deals.
Investigators and prosecutors describe the H-Block Street Gang as one of the most feared and influential city-wide gangs in Boston. The group traces its origins to the 1980s, when it was known as the Humboldt Raiders in the Roxbury neighborhood, and later re-emerged in the 2000s under the H-Block name.
The gang’s history includes violent confrontations with law enforcement; court materials reference a 2015 incident in which a member shot a Boston Police officer at point blank range “without warning or provocation.” That event is cited by officials as emblematic of the serious public safety threats tied to members of this organization.
The federal charge to which Celestino pleaded guilty carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a supervised release term of at least three years and up to life, and a potential fine of up to $1 million. Sentences in federal cases are ultimately imposed by a district court judge who consults the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and relevant statutes in determining an appropriate term.
Celestino marks the eighth defendant to enter a guilty plea in the broader case. The announcement of the plea and the investigation’s results was made by a coalition of federal and local officials, including United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Jarod A. Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Randy Maloney of the U.S. Secret Service Boston Field Office; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General; and Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox.
The probe was supported by multiple partners at the state and local level: Massachusetts State Police, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, the Massachusetts Department of Corrections, and the police departments of Braintree, Quincy, Randolph, and Watertown. Prosecutors on the case include Assistant United States Attorney John T. Dawley of the Organized Crime and Gang Unit and Jeremy Franker of the Justice Department’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section.
This enforcement action is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is described in government material as a whole-of-government partnership that focuses on dismantling criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in and beyond U.S. borders.
HSTF Boston combines federal, state, and local tools to identify, investigate, and prosecute a range of crimes tied to violent organizations, with particular emphasis on offenses involving children and human trafficking. HSTF Boston includes agents and officers from Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, the DEA, the ATF, the U.S. Marshals Service, IRS Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, and the Defense Security Service, along with several state and local agencies, and the prosecution led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
