South Jersey power broker George Norcross and four other co-defendants made their first court appearance Tuesday in their politically charged corruption case, each entering not guilty pleas to the state’s charges.

Norcross  took a seat in the front row at the morning arraignment, solidifying his position as the lead defendant in this potentially explosive case. Five of the six defendants were in court Tuesday morning, represented by some of the highest-paid legal talents in the state.

Next up is the rest of the discovery phase, where evidence is exchanged. The state’s attorney said it will be voluminous.

“The initial discovery, which the state has prepared … is comprised of 13,7000 stamped documents and another terabyte of approximately 150 media files and 2.5 million other documents, and those documents range from a single page document all the way to thousands,” said Assistant Attorney General Adam Klein.

That’s a lot of material the defense has yet to see, and the prosecution said it should be kept out of public view, since it could contain testimony or other evidence that they contend is sensitive. But the defense said they can’t agree to any protective order on evidence they haven’t seen.

“What I want to know is they’ve been investigating this for five years [and] where are the documents?” said Kevin Marino, representing co-defendant Phil Norcross, George’s brother. “Why are we being told there’s ‘initial production.’ There should be a complete production. That’s what the rules entitle us to.”

The defense said the state should have had its evidence in order by Tuesday. The state said it’s still waiting on some other evidence from federal law enforcement, which the defense blasted both in court and outside of court afterward.

“Are you wondering why you’re not getting those materials that were presented to the grand jury?” asked Marino to reporters at a press conference outside the courthouse. “Why don’t you have those Title 3 materials? Where is the wiretap material? They go back six years. They have them. When did they ask the government in Washington for the permission to give it to us and to you? Last week! What’s going on here?”

The defendants are charged with being a part of a criminal enterprise led by George Norcross, which used coercion, intimidation and manipulation of local resources, including public officials, to illegally take advantage of tax credits and other incentives provided by the state’s Economic Development Authority to help the city of Camden.

“The indictment has a lot of words, a lot of pages, a lot allegations,” said said Michael Critchley, attorney for George Norcross. “One thing it does not have is elements of a crime. This is a speaking indictment, more of a press release,”

Norcross did not speak to reporters on Tuesday, nor did prosecutors.

The judge will see the sides again on Sept. 10, by which time prosecutors will have to provide all the evidence they have to the defense and the defense will have to show why the evidence shouldn’t be subject to a protective order.