The indictment follows an undercover FBI investigation into the kidnapping and assaulting of Orthodox Jewish men to extract religious divorces in operations that cost approximately $70,000.
All five have been charged with conspiracy, as well as specific kidnapping and attempted kidnapping charges, US attorney Paul Fishman announced in New Jersey on Thursday.
The conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and each count is also punishable by a $250,000 fine.
Rabbis Mendel Epstein, 68, Martin Wolmark, 56, Jay Goldstein, 60, and Binyamin Stimler, 38, have been charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping in October 2013.
In a meeting with undercover agents at his New Jersey home in 2013, Epstein allegedly laid out plans to bundle a particular target into a van and assault him with an electric cattle prod.
Epstein priced the kidnapping at $60,000-70,000 — $10,000 for a rabbinical court to approve the operation — and the rest for “tough guys” to beat up the husband, court documents said.
Two months later in October, Goldstein and Stimler allegedly traveled with others from New York to a warehouse in New Jersey to carry out the kidnapping.
They arrived in two minivans shortly after 8:00 pm, wearing ski masks, Halloween masks and bandanas, and carrying rope, surgical blades, a screwdriver and plastic bags.
Members of the kidnapping ring were then arrested.
Four other people, including two sons of Goldstein, have pled guilty to extortion charges.
