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Title: 10-year sentence for Lakewood 'Prodfather' rabbi
Source:
Asbury Park Press
URL Source: http://www.app.com/story/news/local ... epstein-divorce-gets/77351110/
Published: Dec 15, 2015
Author: Shannon Mullen
Post Date: 2015-12-15 21:08:49 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 321
Rabbi Mendel Epstein, a self-described “tough guy” with a reputation for using strong-arm tactics to coerce Orthodox Jewish husbands to grant their wives religious divorces, was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in federal prison. Rejecting pleas for leniency from Epstein’s daughter and attorney — and Epstein himself, who said he was a “broken man” — U.S. District Court Judge Freda L. Wolfson said the 70-year-old Lakewood resident “knew exactly what he was entering into here” when he agreed to accept $60,000 to orchestrate a kidnapping in 2013 on behalf of a woman and her brother who turned out to be undercover FBI agents. A well-known expert in Orthodox Jewish matrimonial law, Epstein was convicted April 21, along with two other rabbis, of one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Prosecutors say Epstein was the group's leader. Epstein must serve 8½ years before becoming eligible for parole. Wolfson agreed to his request to be allowed to surrender himself to authorities on March 1 to begin his prison term. 'Only myself to blame' In a 10-minute address to the court prior to learning his fate, Epstein took responsibility for his actions. “The last two-plus years have been a living hell, and I have only myself to blame,” he said. “When I listen to the tapes, I’m embarrassed and ashamed,” he said, referring to a series of incriminating comments he made on the FBI’s surveillance videos and audio tapes, which were played during his eight-week trial. The recordings turned out to be the most damaging evidence against him. In them, Epstein describes using kidnapping, cattle prods, phony license plates, an untraceable cell phone and “muscle men” in an effort to force the resistant husbands to grant their wives a “get,” or Jewish divorce decree. The night of the planned kidnapping, federal agents swept into an Edison warehouse and arrested eight alleged members of Epstein's team. Epstein was arrested at his Brooklyn home the same night. Six of the men arrested at the warehouse have already received sentences ranging from 14 months to four years for traveling in interstate commerce to commit extortion. Dubbed “The Prodfather” by the New York tabloids for his team’s alleged use of cattle prods to shock husbands in the genitals, if need be, Epstein claimed Tuesday to not even know what a cattle prod is, let alone how to use one. “I never saw one in my life,” he said. But Wolfson said Epstein’s boastful comments to the undercover agents proved to be his undoing. “Unfortunately, Rabbi Epstein will have to live with what he said,” she said. 'Chained' women Under Orthodox Jewish law, only a husband can grant a divorce. A wife trapped in a failed marriage is regarded as an “agunah,” meaning “chained” woman, because Orthodox Jewish law forbids her to remarry. Over the course of a career that spanned more than 50 years, Epstein became the man to see in cases when husbands steadfastly refused to give their wives gets, even when rabbinical courts ordered them to do so. In his address to the court, Epstein, who also has a residence in Brooklyn, described his willingness to venture into dangerous situations to confront “reprobate” husbands, citing two colorful examples: the docks in Red Hook and a glatt kosher belly-dancing club in Queens. “So I had a reputation: ‘This is the rabbi who goes into all kinds of crazy places" and doesn't give up until he secures the get, he said. Epstein said his dogged efforts had helped hundreds of women to remarry and go on to lead happy, fulfilling lives without the stigma they would have faced as agunot. In the overwhelming majority of these cases, he told Wolfson, he used legal pressure tactics to shame men into issuing a get. “That truly is my legacy," he said. Going too far In some instances, however, Epstein acknowledged going too far. “I got caught up in my tough guy image,” he said. His attorney, Robert G. Stahl, plans to appeal Epstein’s conviction. Stahl described his client Tuesday as “a sincere, truly humble, loving, compassionate individual who ended up devoting a substantial portion of his life to the agunot.” A tearful Dina Gongola, one of Epstein’s daughters, told Wolfson her father was “the most compassionate person I know.” Stahl, however, acknowledged that in his zeal to help women in desperate situations, Epstein had “crossed the line" and broken secular law. Still, Stahl argued for a lighter sentence, citing Epstein’s good works and multiple health problems, including a heart condition and severe sleep apnea. The prosecution sought a sentence of between 12 and 14 years. “This was vigilantism – paid vigilantism,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Joseph Gribko. “He did this regularly. He did it for money," Gribko said, adding that Epstein's taped conversations showed that he understood that the targeted husband could be seriously injured. “This was no minor offense.” Another rabbi, Binyamin Stimler, 40, of Brooklyn, was sentenced to 39 months in federal prison Tuesday. He was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and one count of attempted kidnapping. A third rabbi, Jay Goldstein, 60, of Brooklyn, who was convicted of the same charges as Stimler, is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday. 
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