NOVANEWS
BY REUVEN BLAU
BILL DENVER/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWSRabbi Mendel Epstein is accused of participating in a group of 10 that kidnapped, tortured and threatened Jewish men into granting their wives a Get, which would allow them a divorce.
He was a real life Prodfather.
Talmudic tough Rabbi Mendel Epstein told undercover agents that he worked as a mediator in disputes with the Mafia, according to a video played in federal court on Monday.
The gangsters, he said, would clean guns in front of him to intimidate him. “But they’re not going to shoot me because I’m the golden goose,” he said.
Epstein and three co-defendants are charged with kidnapping — and even threatening with a cattle prod — men who refused to give their wives a Jewish divorce called a get .
JOHN MINCHILLO/ASSOCIATED PRESSFBI agents leave the Epstein’s Brooklyn home after an investigation in October 2013.
Epstein’s lawyer contends he was merely helping the trapped women.
