Boston Gang Member Sentenced to More Than Three Years in Prison for Drug Conspiracies (Press Release, June 26, 2025)

Summary

Press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts, dated June 26, 2025. Avery Lewis of Dorchester, a member of the Boston gang H-Block, was sentenced by Judge Myong J. Joun to 46 months in prison and three years of supervised release for drug conspiracy charges. He had pleaded guilty in January 2025 to two counts of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. The release says he was one of 10 H-Block members and associates charged in August 2024 and the first defendant sentenced, and that over 500 grams of cocaine, crack cocaine and fentanyl were seized during the investigation.

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PRESS RELEASE


Boston Gang Member Sentenced to More
Than Three Years in Prison for Drug
Conspiracies
Thursday, June 26, 2025

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts

BOSTON – A member of the violent Boston-based gang, H-Block, was sentenced
yesterday in federal court in Boston for drug conspiracy charges.
Avery Lewis, a/k/a “Wave,” 33, of Dorchester was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge
Myong J. Joun to 46 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised
release. In January 2025, Lewis pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to possess
with intent to distribute cocaine and one count of possession with intent to distribute
cocaine.

Lewis was one of 10 H-Block gang members and associates charged in August
2024 following a multi-year investigation that began 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.

Lewis was a long-time H-Block gang member and daily street-level dealer with a regular
roster of customers. Over the course of the investigation, Lewis sold cocaine to an
undercover officer on several occasions and coordinated other drug trafficking criminal
activities with H-Block gang members.
On April 5, 2023, Lewis was arrested with approximately 250 grams of cocaine in his
vehicle. In addition, in March 2024, Lewis was involved in an altercation with a Boston
Police Department officer, leading to the officer being struck by a bullet fired by a
concealed gun in Lewis’s possession resulting in state charges. Lewis was sentenced to
seven to nine years in state prison in that matter.

According to court records, Lewis’ criminal history includes a 2017 cocaine conviction for
possessing 86 bags of cocaine inside his apartment as well as a 2013 conviction for
unlawfully possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Lewis is the first defendant to be sentenced in the case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox; Stephen
Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New
England Field Division; Randy Maloney, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret
Service, Boston Field Office; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation, Boston Division; and Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge of the
U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Region 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.


Updated June 26, 2025

Topic
DRUG TRAFFICKING
Components
Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces
USAO - Massachusetts


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