A Federal Bureau of Investigation sting operation has arrested four people, including two rabbis, in New Jersey in connection to a scheme that used kidnappings, beatings and torture with a cattle prod to force religious men into granting their wives divorces, according to the Newark Star-Ledger.
In order to end a marriage in the Orthodox Jewish faith the husband has to grant the divorce and the two rabbis, Mendel Epstein and Martin Wolmark, would offer to help "encourage" the men of unhappy wives to grant one for a price. The plan was caught on tape by an undercover agent posing as a woman in an unhappy marriage, according to ABC News.
"Mendel Epstein talked about forcing compliance through the use of 'tough guys' who utilize electric cattle prods, karate, handcuffs and place plastic bags on the heads of husbands," FBI Special Agent Bruce Kamerman said.
Up to six other people who had been recruited as muscle for the scheme may also be charged. The rabbis allegedly charged families thousands of dollars for their service. Allegedly the rabbis required $10,000 for setting up the kidnapping while the "tough guys" would receive between $60,000 and $70,000, according to CBS News.
"Ya know, this is an expensive thing to do," Epstein said on a recording. "It's not simply... basically what we are going to be doing is kidnapping a guy for a couple of house and beating him up and torturing him and then getting him to give the get."
A "get" is the term used for when an Orthodox husband grants his wife a divorce.
"If [a cattle prod] can get a bull that weighs five tons to move... You put it in certain parts of his body and in one minute the guy will know," Epstein told an undercover agent.
The four have been charged with plotting to kidnap, abduct, hold for ransom and threaten to "coerce a man to conduct a divorce," according to NBC News.
