Joshua S. Levy, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts
A Boston gang member has pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges in federal court. Dominique Carpenter-Grady, also known as "8 Zipp," "Eight," and "Eighty," admitted to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute PCP, MDMB-4en-PINACA, and ADB-4en-PINACA. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani set sentencing for February 11, 2026.
Carpenter-Grady was among ten members of the H-Block gang charged in August 2024 after a multi-year investigation into the gang's activities starting in 2021. Authorities seized over 500 grams of cocaine, crack cocaine, fentanyl, and more than 20,000 doses of drug-laced paper during the investigation.
The H-Block street gang is considered one of Boston's most feared gangs. It originated in the 1980s as the Humboldt Raiders in Roxbury and re-emerged in the 2000s as H-Block. Members have a history of violent confrontations with law enforcement, including a 2015 incident where a member shot a Boston Police officer.
Carpenter-Grady was involved in smuggling drugs into a Massachusetts prison using drug-saturated papers disguised as legal mail. The Massachusetts Department of Correction has reported an increase in synthetic cannabinoid smuggling through inmate mail policies that allow legal mail delivery.
He is the second defendant to plead guilty in this case. The charge carries up to 20 years in prison, at least three years to life supervised release, and up to $1 million fine. Sentences are determined by federal district court judges based on U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Stephen Belleau from the DEA; Andrew Murphy from the U.S. Secret Service; Jodi Cohen from the FBI; Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox; and Jonathan Mellone from the Department of Labor announced these developments. The investigation received support from various local law enforcement agencies.
This case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) initiative aimed at dismantling high-level criminal organizations threatening national security through a collaborative approach involving multiple agencies.
All details from charging documents are allegations until proven beyond reasonable doubt in court.
