The New York divorce coercion gang was a Haredi Jewish group who kidnapped, and in some cases tortured, Jewish men in the New York metropolitan area to force them to grant their wives religious divorces (gittin). The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) broke up the group after conducting a sting operation against the gang in October 2013. The sting resulted in the prosecution of four men, three of whom were convicted in late 2015.

Divorce is permitted in Judaism. Originally, only the husband was granted the power to terminate a marriage, which he could effectuate unilaterally for almost any reason by simply giving his wife a get (divorce document). During the Middle Ages, this rule was amended by Gershom ben Judah, who stipulated that a divorce could only be obtained through the consent of both parties. Henceforth, in order for a woman to receive a religious divorce, halakha (Jewish law) required that she obtain her husband's consent; this would avert the prospect of an invalid second marriage, which carries with it the possibility of her offspring being considered mamzerim (bastards/impure). A contentious divorce must be arbitrated through a competent beth din. Among the valid reasons for divorce in Judaism are impotency, the intentional withholding of sex, injurious disease, apostasy, a verifiable instance of adultery committed by the wife, or certain forms of persistent spousal abuse. If either the husband refuses to grant the get or the wife refuses to accept it, the beth din can implement certain coercive measures on the recalcitrant party; these include community shunning measures, financial penalties, or even physical confinement and/or assault, which can only be implemented after the beth din issues a formal ruling of coercion (kofin). Physical coercion or other types of intimidation initiated against the husband that are not firmly grounded in a ruling of kofin can potentially place the validity of the divorce in doubt. In any case, these measures are most often directed against the husband; in the event of his wife's recalcitrance or insanity, the husband has the option to simply remarry, or—for Ashkenazi Jews—obtain a heter meah rabbanim (lit. 'permission by one hundred rabbis') to remarry.

In the mid-1980s, a Haredi rabbi from Brooklyn, New York —Mendel Epstein— began to advocate for women seeking religious divorces from their husbands. Dubbed "The Prodfather" by the press, due to his boast of using a cattle prod against his victims, Epstein coerced these men to divorce their wives through the use of violence. In 1991, fathers' rights activist Monty Weinstein staged a protest with 25 people outside Epstein's home, with some carrying signs that read "Stop Mendel Epstein!". Weinstein had heard stories about Epstein's tactics for years, but nothing ever happened when he complained to the authorities. He said, "What bothered me is that the police and courts didn't care."

On October 23, 1996, while he was walking from the synagogue to his home in Borough Park, Brooklyn, Abraham Rubin was shoved into a van by three masked men, beaten, and shocked with a stun-gun more than 30 times, including in his genitals, until he agreed to give his wife a get. After his 3-hour ordeal, he was left bruised, bloodied, handcuffed, blindfolded, and half-naked at the entrance to a cemetery. The same year, a rabbinical council in neighboring Williamsburg issued a statement condemning the shadowy group of get-enforcers.

In the following year, Rubin filed a civil racketeering lawsuit against Epstein and a conspirator, Martin Wolmark, head of Yeshiva Shaarei Torah of Rockland on West Carlton Road in Suffern, New York. However, charges against his attackers were dropped in 2000 by Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, after Rubin "could not identify any of his assailants". In 1998, accountant Stephen Weiss alleged that his jaw, leg, and arm were broken in 1992 by members of the gang, but no arrests were made. Newsday interviewed an additional dozen residents of Borough Park and Midwood, Brooklyn, all of whom claimed that they were harassed, threatened, or assaulted by men working for their estranged wives. Hynes agreed to look into the charges, but, despite pressure from the victims, declined to prosecute.

On December 1, 2009, Israel Markowitz was lured from Brooklyn to Lakewood Township, New Jersey, under the pretense of receiving employment at a document shredding establishment. He was then assaulted, placed in a van, tied up, beaten, and shocked with a stun-gun until he agreed to give his wife a get. On October 16, 2010, Yisrael Bryskman, an Israeli citizen, was lured from New York to the Lakewood home of David Wax, an accomplice of Epstein, where he was promised employment as a typist of Talmudic texts. Bryskman entered Wax's home shortly before midnight, was shown into a second-story bedroom, and was immediately punched in the face, breaking his nose. He was then forced to the floor, blindfolded, handcuffed, and ankle-tied. A pool of blood appeared on the carpet. Wax presented Bryskman with a body bag, "to get [you] used to the size". He was then kicked in the ribs, burned with acid, and threatened to be urinated upon, fed to rats, and buried alive, until he agreed to give his wife a get. Wax was paid $100,000 from the wife's family for the document, half of which went to Epstein, and he attempted to extort an additional $50,000 from Bryskman's father in Israel over the phone, threatening that if he didn't comply, he'd receive a "special gift — it's called a bullet ... in your head". On August 22, 2011, in Brooklyn, Usher Chaimowitz and his roommate, Menachem Teitelbaum, were assaulted, tied up, and beaten for two hours, until Chaimowitz agreed to give his wife a get. Teitelbaum was punched in the face, had four of his teeth knocked out, his head pushed through a wall, and his mouth stuffed with dirty socks when he tried to scream for help. When he asked why they were beating him, one of his attackers quoted the Talmudic dictum "Woe to the evildoer, woe to his neighbor".

In October 2010, Wax and his wife Judy were arrested for their part in the Bryskman kidnapping and beating, and Wax subsequently agreed to testify as a government witness, claiming that Epstein was the head of the operation and that his son, David Epstein, was present in the bedroom during the Bryskman beating. The Bryskman case was what led federal authorities in New Jersey to begin their investigation of Mendel Epstein for his role in the crime.

In the summer of 2013, an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent dialed Martin Wolmark, and told him her husband refused to give her a get. The agent, together with another agent she identified as her brother, met with Wolmark on August 7, who proceeded to set up a conference call with Epstein. Epstein later said he needed $10,000 to approve the coercion at the beth din, and $60,000 for the "tough guys" who would use karate, rope, a screwdriver, and plastic bags over the men's heads to get them to co-operate. Epstein told the agent that he would not be present at the attack, planning instead to be out and about, and suggested that she do the same, explaining that being seen in public would provide them with an alibi. The agents handed Epstein a check for $10,000, with the word "Consultation" written in the memo. On September 29, Epstein drove from New York across state lines to a warehouse in Edison, New Jersey to stake out the location and verify that it was appropriate to stage a kidnapping and beating there. Four days later, he drove to Suffern to meet with the female agent and Wolmark, who convened the beth din that, in exchange for the fee, would declare that the "husband" is required to divorce his "wife". The rabbis, who were unaware that the agent was recording the meeting, openly discussed the plan to kidnap and assault the husband to force him to provide the get.