Rabbis plotted cattle prod ‘torture’ of bad husbands: feds
Two Orthodox rabbis were busted by the feds Thursday morning on charges they plotted the brutal beating of a Jewish man who refused to grant his unhappy wife a religious divorce.
One of the rabbis, Mendel Epstein, allegedly admitted arranging the kidnapping and torture of at least one recalcitrant hubby every year or so.
During a sting operation, he told undercover FBI agents that he hired “‘tough guys’ who utlilize electric cattle prods, karate, handcuffs and place plastic bags over the head of the husbands,” court papers charge.
“We take an electric cattle prod….You put it in certain parts of his body and in one minute, the guy will know,” Epstein allegedly said.
Epstein and a co-defendant, Rabbi Martin Wolmark, routinely charge women and their families thousands of dollars for the illegal service, according to a New Jersey federal court complaint.
Under Jewish law, a religious divorce can only take place if the husband gives his wife a document known as a “get,” but a religious court can approve the “the use of coercion and/or violence” to force a husband give a “get,” court papers say.
Epstein and Wolmark are both charged with kidnapping conspiracy, which carries a maximum 10 years in the slammer.
Also charged are alleged accomplices Ariel Potash and a man known only as “Yaakov.”
One of the rabbis, Mendel Epstein, allegedly admitted arranging the kidnapping and torture of at least one recalcitrant hubby every year or so.
During a sting operation, he told undercover FBI agents that he hired “‘tough guys’ who utlilize electric cattle prods, karate, handcuffs and place plastic bags over the head of the husbands,” court papers charge.
“We take an electric cattle prod….You put it in certain parts of his body and in one minute, the guy will know,” Epstein allegedly said.
Epstein and a co-defendant, Rabbi Martin Wolmark, routinely charge women and their families thousands of dollars for the illegal service, according to a New Jersey federal court complaint.
Under Jewish law, a religious divorce can only take place if the husband gives his wife a document known as a “get,” but a religious court can approve the “the use of coercion and/or violence” to force a husband give a “get,” court papers say.
Epstein and Wolmark are both charged with kidnapping conspiracy, which carries a maximum 10 years in the slammer.
Also charged are alleged accomplices Ariel Potash and a man known only as “Yaakov.”
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