Rabbis Martin Wolmark and Mendel Epstein were taken into custody after a plot to kidnap and rough up a Jewish husband was discovered.
The man wouldn’t agree to a religiously approved divorce and the Rabbis were going to try their best to “persuade” the man to rethink that position.
The FBI told The New York Times the woman who asked the men for their help was an undercover agent.
The Times report sayss the rabbis were going to charge $60,000 for using electric cattle prods and other non-marking methods on the husband.
One of the Rabbi’s told the woman 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 agree to the divorce.”
It’s common in Orthodox communities for divorces to only be allowed when the husband agrees and hiring "help" in the process has become more common.
Nearly ten other arrests were made in New York and New Jersey during the sting operation.