Curiosity
New York Rabbis Arrested in Bizarre kidding Sting
New York Rabbis Arrested in Bizarre kidding Sting
In a “Mafia enforcer” story with a twist three rabbis in New York were arrested for leaning on Orthodox Jewish men to divorce their wives. Allegedly, the men would be kidnapped, tied up and tortured with Tasers in order to persuade them to grant their wives a divorce or “get”. A “get” is permission to divorce granted by an Orthodox Jewish husband to his wife.
Rabbis Mendel Epstein and Martin Wolmark and eight others were arrested and face conspiracy to kidnap charges in the Federal District Court of Trenton. If convicted, the alleged conspirators could face life in prison.
“They didn’t do it out of religious conviction,” Assistant US Attorney Joseph Gribko told a judge in a federal court hearing for the suspects.
“They did it for money.”
In 2010 the state of New York became the last state to legalize no-fault divorce. Nevertheless, it is extraordinarily difficult for an Orthodox Jewish women to obtain a divorce from her spouse. For $60,000 to $100,000 a women could make an arrangement with Rabbi Epstein and his associates to have a forced divorce granted.
Two Federal agents posing as a sister and brother contacted Rabbi Epstein in order to obtain a forced divorce for the woman agent. They were assured the “spouse” could be forced to grant the divorce with little to fear from law enforcement, the FBI complaint said.
“Basically what we are going to be doing is kidnapping a guy for a couple of hours and beating him up and torturing him and then getting him to give the get,” Rabbi Epstein is quoted as saying during the conversation, which was videotaped.
The undercover agents transferred him a $20,000 (£12,500) down payment, the complaint said.
Marc Agnifilo, a lawyer for Rabbi Wolmark, said: “It’s a very complex case
“The government says it’s all about money, but I don’t think that’s quite right.”
Mr Agnifilo called coercion and even violence to get husbands to grant religious divorces “an old tradition”.
On The Web:
new york rabbis arrested
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/northern_suburbs&id=9281760
3 rabbis arrested in New Jersey, New York, Rockland County divorce scandal
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/11/nyregion/rabbis-accused-in-kidnapping-plot-to-force-men-to-grant-divorces.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
New York Rabbis Arrested In New Jersey For Torture, Kidnapping: Divorces Forced For 30 Years
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/nyregion/16divorce.html?_r=0
new york rabbis arrested
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/bklyn-rabbi-charged-100-000-torture-husbands-divorce-feds-article-1.1481722
18 U.S.C. § 1201 : US Code – Section 1201: Kidnapping
http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/55/1201