Matthew Shaer [in GQ did] a profile of a gang of Hasids hired for thousands of dollars to persuade Orthodox men who have refused to grant their wives a “get” – a Jewish divorce document — to reconsider that decision.
In Orthodox Judaism, a get is required by the husband in order for a couple to get divorced. Without a get, a woman is not permitted to remarry and is therefore considered to be an agunah: a chained woman.
It’s an interesting cultural position – in the ultra Orthodox world, the gang was fighting for the underdog, even though to the outside world their tactics made them difficult to distinguish from any of a thousand other groups utilizing violence.
The gang used strong powers of persuasion to get their job done: physical assault with ropes, acid and cattle prods.
That last implement earned the head of the gang, Rabbi Mendel Epstein, the Prodfather nickname. He and his henchmen were arrested in an FBI sting last year.
What’s next…a Tibetan Buddhist hit squad?