BOSTON — A Roxbury man described by federal prosecutors as a longtime member of the Boston street gang H-Block has pleaded guilty to drug and gun charges, including a conspiracy to smuggle drugs into a Massachusetts prison, the U.S. attorney's office said Friday.

Robert Heckstall, 43, also known as "Ribbs," "Buck" and "Buck Corleone," pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to conspiring to distribute PCP and two synthetic cannabinoids, possessing cocaine with intent to distribute it, and being a felon in possession of a gun and ammunition, prosecutors said. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani scheduled sentencing for Jan. 26, 2027. The drug charges carry up to 20 years in prison.

Heckstall was one of 10 H-Block members and associates charged in August 2024 after an investigation that began in 2021, prosecutors said. He is the ninth to plead guilty. Charges against the remaining defendants are allegations, and they are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

According to court documents, the scheme exploited state Department of Correction mail rules, under which only legal mail reaches inmates in its original form. Prosecutors said sheets of paper were soaked or sprayed with liquid drugs, dried, printed with fake legal correspondence and mailed to inmates in envelopes marked as legal mail. Prosecutors estimated that a single sheet could be worth as much as $80,000 inside a prison.

Recorded jail calls showed Heckstall conspiring with others to get synthetic drugs into the facilities, prosecutors said. When he was arrested, investigators found three guns and more than 60 grams of cocaine in his apartment.

Investigators seized more than 500 grams of cocaine, crack cocaine and fentanyl and more than 20,000 doses of drug-laced paper over the course of the investigation, prosecutors said.

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