Gang bangers have the same mythic image of the Mafia that the public in general does. But it's sort of a bogus question because, in most cases, there's not even any contact between mafiosi and gang bangers. Completely different circles. Which is why the "partnership" between the Luccheses and the Bloods in Jersey got so much press. Of course, it wasn't really a partnership so much as one Lucchese guy working with one Blood guy to a limited extent.

And for all that's been said about mobsters looking to gangs for protection in prison, I can't think of many. The Lucchese thing started with Joe Perna reaching out to Spears to get one of his guys to back off a Lucchese associate inside. Joey Merlino reportedly paid a Mexican gang in Texas to watch his back. But it was a matter of him hiring them rather than them shaking him down for protection money. And there's conflicting information, to say the least, on whether Gotti was paying the AB or not.

Sometimes a single case will start a general assumption. For example, it's been said the Chicago Outfit, while not getting deeply involved in narcotics itself, does bankroll the drug trafficking of gangs or whatever. This probably came from the isolated incident back in the 1990's of Ronnie Jarrett working with the Satan Disciple's gang in moving cocaine. That's the only example I know of over the years and it may have been part of the reason he was killed.