TRENTON — An Orthodox rabbi was sentenced on Monday to more than three years in prison for his role in a ring of Jewish men who used brutal methods and tools, including handcuffs and electric cattle prods, to torture unwilling husbands into granting their wives religious divorces.

The rabbi, Martin Wolmark, 57, of Monsey, N.Y., had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion. Ten men in all were convicted for their roles in the plot.

The plot began to come apart after Rabbi Wolmark was recorded by an undercover agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation who posed as a woman seeking a religious divorce, known as a “get.” Rabbi Wolmark put the woman and another agent posing as her brother in touch with a fellow Orthodox rabbi, Mendel Epstein, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and is to be sentenced on Tuesday. Rabbi Epstein was acquitted of attempted kidnapping.

Jewish law mandates that the get be presented by a husband to a wife to make a divorce official.

The female undercover agent testified that Rabbi Wolmark had said she needed “special rabbis” to get the job done. She said he told her that Rabbi Epstein was a “hired hand” who could be “very helpful” to them.