How did two Jews — a financier and a den­tist — drag the Mafia into the biggest loan­shark­ing scheme in New York? They did it with the help of a group of Long Island rab­bis who unknow­ing­ly invest­ed in a loan­shark­ing ring. This wild, true sto­ry takes read­ers on a ride through free­wheel­ing 1980s New York, and shows what can go wrong when flex­i­ble ethics and ambi­tion meet. In the 1980s, the Mafia dom­i­nat­ed New York. In that milieu, Mel Coop­er and Jesse ​“Doc” Hyman start­ed mak­ing ille­gal loans to des­per­ate busi­ness­men. They invit­ed a well-known Great Neck rab­bi to invest in their ​“new kind of loan.” With a can­tor as a go-between, cash was soon mov­ing between Man­hat­tan and Long Island. Their loan­shark­ing caught the atten­tion of then-US Attor­ney Rudy Giu­liani. In 1984, he indict­ed Coop­er, Hyman, and sev­en mafia capos from four crime fam­i­lies in one of the first RICO pros­e­cu­tions. After being found guilty, they were sen­tenced to thir­ty years in prison — from which Coop­er prompt­ly escaped. Wiseguys, Rab­bis, and the FBI is about Jew­ish crim­i­nals, but it’s also a sto­ry about ethics; how every choice, no mat­ter how small, cre­ates our destiny.