United States Drug Enforcement Administration

BOSTON – A member of the violent Boston-based gang, H-Block, has pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to drug conspiracy charges.

Dominique Carpenter-Grady, a/k/a “8 Zipp,” a/k/a “Eight,” “a/k/a “Eighty,” 35, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute PCP, MDMB-4en-PINACA and ADB-4en-PINACA. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani scheduled sentencing for Feb. 11, 2026. 

Carpenter-Grady was one of 10 H-Block gang members and associates charged in August 2024 following a multi-year investigation of H-Block beginning in 2021 in response to an uptick in gang-related drug trafficking, shootings and violence. 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.

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. 

Carpenter-Grady was a long-time H-Block gang member and one of three members and associates of H Block charged with a conspiracy to smuggle illegal drugs into a Massachusetts prison. Carpenter-Grady facilitated intercepted calls coordinating the smuggling of drugs on saturated papers into the prison where alleged co-conspirators were incarcerated. It is alleged that several sheets of paper containing PCP (Phenylcyclidine) and illegal K2 were seized over the course of the investigation. It is estimated that a single sheet of such paper would be worth as much as $80,000 inside the prison. 

According to court documents, the Massachusetts Department of Correction has seen a significant increase in the smuggling of synthetic cannabinoids, a/k/a “K2,” and other dangerous substances into the prison system. A common method of introducing the drugs is by exploiting the Department of Correction’s inmate mail policies, which prohibit delivery to inmates of original copies of any materials contained in incoming mail except for legal mail, original copies of which are inspected and delivered via the U.S. postal system. Sheets of paper are saturated or sprayed with liquid narcotics, dried, printed with fake legal correspondence, and then mailed to inmates in an envelope marked as legal mail, in the hopes that the drug-laced paper will be delivered undetected. 

Carpenter-Grady is the second defendant to plead guilty in the case. 

The charges of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute PCP, MDMB-4en-PINACA and ADB-4en-PINACA provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, at least three years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.       

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Andrew Murphy of the U.S. Secret Service Boston Field Office; Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox; and Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge of the Depart of Labor, Office of Inspector General made the announcement. The investigation was supported by the Massachusetts State Police; Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office; Massachusetts Department of Corrections; and the Braintree, Quincy, Randolph and Watertown Police Departments. Assistant United States Attorney John T. Dawley of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit and Jeremy Franker of the Justice Department’s Violent Crime & Racketeering Section are prosecuting the cases.

The case was investigated under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. For more information about Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, please visit Justice.gov/OCDETF. 

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.