H Block Gang Member Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Drug Conspiracy

BOSTON – A member of the violent Boston-based gang, H-Block, was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for drug conspiracy charges.

Eric Celestino, 31, of Boston, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin to five years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. In December 2025, Celestino pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.

Celestino is one of 10 H-Block gang members and associates charged in August 2024 following a multi-year investigation in response to an uptick in gang-related drug trafficking, shootings and violence. According to court documents, over 500 grams of cocaine, cocaine base (crack cocaine) and fentanyl, as well as over 20,000 doses of drug-laced paper were seized during the investigation.

Since the investigation began in 2021, law enforcement attributed 12 incidents of gunfire involving H Block gang associates. Six H Block members and associates were arrested and charged with drug dealing in Boston and surrounding communities. Four additional H Block members and associates were already in state custody at the time of the arrests. Additional drugs and four firearms were seized during the subsequent arrests.

From 2022 through 2023, Celestino, a long-time H Block gang member, participated in a conspiracy to distribute various controlled substances, in particular, powdered cocaine and cocaine base (crack). According to court filings, Celestino was a supplier of cocaine to his co-conspirators, who engaged in various drug deals with an undercover officer.

According to the charging documents, the H Block Street Gang is one of the most feared and influential city-wide gangs in Boston. Originally formed in the 1980s as the Humboldt Raiders in the Roxbury section of Boston, the gang re-emerged in the 2000s as H Block. Current members of H Block have a history of violent confrontation with law enforcement, including an incident in 2015 when a member shot a Boston Police officer at point blank range without warning or provocation.

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