Transcripts of conversations between Perna and Spears made public in an affidavit filed by New Jersey investigators reveal details of the relationship. A total of 32 people were charged, with several of them also facing charges relating to an alleged Lucchese sports gambling operation.

The 15-month probe involved dozens of investigators who followed alleged Lucchese crime bosses into diners and to meetings at rest stops off the Garden State Parkway.

Mob experts and law-enforcement officials say the case is the first documented example of the Mafia apparently partnering with a gang such as the Bloods. They talk about money and about meeting Spears's brother Perna expresses concern that they watch what they say. We clearly deny those charges.' He said the affidavits portray only 'a glorified gambling case.' In the transcripts of the tapes included in the affidavit, Perna and Cetta do not ever explicitly discuss drugs. Cetta's attorney, Marco Laracca, told NEWSWEEK that any allegation of heroin distribution was 'absolutely absurd and unfounded. Perna's attorney, Anthony Iacullo, told NEWSWEEK, 'Any charges whatsoever that relate to organized crime, the Bloods street gang and drugs and Joseph Perna are absolutely 100 percent false.' He declined to comment on why his client had been talking to Spears, saying he will argue his case in court. Dwayne Spears allegedly passed the contraband on to a corrupt prison guard who funneled it to Edwin Spears to sell inside the prison. Investigators say Perna and his associates supplied cash to Spears's brother Dwayne, who in turn bought drugs and phones. Authorities allege that the pair organized a sophisticated scheme to distribute heroin, cocaine, marijuana and prepaid cell phones into a New Jersey state prison. What is clear is that Spears and Perna talked at great length. New Jersey authorities say it is unclear how Spears, 33, forged his relationship with the Lucchese family members. This week Perna, 38, and another high-ranking mobster, Michael Cetta, 41, were charged with racketeering, conspiracy to distribute heroin and a host of other charges stemming, in large part, from surprisingly candid wiretapped phone conversations they had with the Bloods leader. 'But really, man,' Spears says on the government's tape, according to a New Jersey affidavit, 'love you guys to death.' Perna is the son of a Lucchese crime family capo Spears, the so-called five-star general in the Nine-Trey Bloods street gang. 'I want you to feel me like I feel you guys, man,' says Edwin Spears to an amused Joseph Perna.