They were the oddest of couples. "I want you to feel me like I feel you guys, man," says Edwin Spears to an amused Joseph Perna. Perna is the son of a Lucchese crime family capo; Spears, the so-called five-star general in the Nine-Trey Bloods street gang. "But really, man," Spears says on the government's tape, according to a New Jersey affidavit, "love you guys to death."
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. New Jersey authorities say it is unclear how Spears, 33, forged his relationship with the Lucchese family members. What is clear is that Spears and Perna talked at great length. Authorities allege that the pair organized a sophisticated scheme to distribute heroin, cocaine, marijuana and prepaid cell phones into a New Jersey state prison.
6 wiretaps
