“[T]he phone has not stopped ringing” with calls from haredim who claim
they were kidnapped by a haredi-rabbi-led gang of thugs who used
electric cattle prods and other means of torture to coerce recalcitrant
husbands to give their wives Jewish divorces known as "gets."
Rabbi Mendel Epstein
It's Raining Haredi Kidnap And Torture Ring Victims, Feds Say
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
“[T]he phone has not stopped ringing” with calls from haredim who claim they were kidnapped by a haredi-rabbi-led gang of thugs who used electric cattle prods and other means of torture to coerce recalcitrant husbands to give their wives Jewish divorces known as "gets," the New York Post reported.
The US Attorney's office knew about 20 kidnappings allegedly carried out by the gang when 10 of its members were arrested last week. But now that number has apparently grown significantly larger.
“It’s larger than we thought,” Assistant US Attorney Joseph Gribko told a federal court judge earlier this week. “The threats are not just in the past. This is an ongoing business.”
In addition to the $4 million to $5 million bail packages offered alleged ringleaders Rabbi Mendel Epstein and Rabbi Martin "Mordechai" Wolmark, four other gang members were reportedly offered lesser bail packages starting at $500,000.
Four more gang members have not yet had bail hearings.
Epstein and his gang allegedly charged women about $100,000 to kidnap and torture their recalcitrant husbands to force them to give their wives gets.
Prosecutors maintain this was done primarily as a business to make money, and not to fulfil a religious requirement or to help the women.
“Had we been talking about the mob or the Bloods or the Crips, we wouldn’t even be discussing a bond in this case. There’s no difference between them and these other gangs that engage in violent crime,” Gribko reportedly said.
Epstein is also known for using coercive tactics against women in certain divorce situations.
“Everybody knew very well about his activities, which were not always on behalf of women, but sometimes on behalf of husbands. He plays many roles: dayan [{beit din (rabbinic court)} judge], toen [lawyer in beit din proceedings] and vigilante[,] Rivka Haut, co-founder of the advocacy group Agunah, Inc, told the Jewish Week.
[Hat Tip: Devorah.]