Raydon Howard, 37, of Cleveland, was sentenced Thursday to nine years in federal prison after pleading guilty to drug-trafficking and gun offenses. Authorities identified him as tied to a West Side gang set; the case followed a 2024 Cleveland police gang-unit investigation, according to Cleveland.com.
U.S. District Judge Dan Polster imposed the nine-year term jointly recommended by federal prosecutors and defense attorney Craig Weintraub in Howard’s plea agreement, according to Cleveland.com. Howard was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and received credit for time served since his July 2024 arrest. Polster was appointed to the Northern District of Ohio bench in 1998, according to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
A Long-Running Gang Unit Investigation
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Crooks said the case grew out of a long-running Cleveland police gang-unit investigation, according to Cleveland.com. Federal authorities charged Howard in April 2025. The criminal complaint was signed March 26, 2025, by U.S. Magistrate Judge Reuben J. Sheperd in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, according to PacerMonitor.
Searches of an apartment on Pleasantdale Street and vehicles connected to Howard turned up two loaded firearms, more than six pounds of suspected cocaine, small amounts of heroin and fentanyl, drug packaging materials, and a handwritten drug ledger, according to Cleveland.com. Authorities identified Howard as a member of D-Block, a gang operating near Denison Avenue and West 38th Street and described as a subset of the Heartless Felons.
How the sentence compares
Howard’s nine-year term is 108 months, compared with an 87-month average for federal drug-trafficking cases overall in fiscal years 2021–2025. Sentences were increased for possessing a weapon in 32% of those cases, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. The figures are nationwide, not Ohio-specific, and do not make the cases directly comparable.
Part of a Broader Federal Crackdown
In a separate federal case, prosecutors unsealed a second superseding RICO indictment in December 2024 charging 18 members of the Fully Blooded Felons, another Heartless Felons subset, with murder, kidnapping, assault, and drug trafficking. The U.S. Department of Justice said the Heartless Felons formed in a state youth correctional facility and later spread into adult prisons and Cleveland streets.
How the separate cases and firearm rules differ
The December 2024 RICO indictment described above was a separate prosecution: its allegations against members of the Fully Blooded Felons were not charges or findings against Howard in his D-Block case. The U.S. Sentencing Commission’s 2025 primer explains that the guideline weapon enhancement does not apply to the same underlying drug offense when a defendant is convicted under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). Howard received a nine-year sentence after pleading guilty to drug-trafficking and gun offenses; the information reported here does not establish which firearm provisions applied in his case.
D-Block operated near Denison Avenue and West 38th Street.
A Plea for Leniency
Defense attorney Craig Weintraub asked the court to consider Howard’s background and mental health conditions, including schizophrenia. Weintraub also described Howard as a good father to his six children and cited his father’s prison sentences for murder and a federal drug case, according to Cleveland.com. Howard apologized and told the judge, “I won't be in this position again,” saying he intended to change his life after prison.
A West Side Corridor Under Scrutiny
The Cleveland Police Division's Gang Impact Unit initiated the probe into Howard; federal authorities later charged him. Howard has prior convictions.
