KIRYAS JOEL – An unprecedented graveside protest was held by members of the Hassidic community in Kiryas Joel over the burial site for Satmar President Yitzchak Rosenberg, the high-profile businessman who drowned in Miami this past week.
The community says they are upset that Rosenberg is buried next to Grand Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum, their highest holy leader.
One critic, who asked not to be identified by News 12, said that the burial defiled the holy grounds because Rosenberg was found naked at the time of his death.
he businessman was one of three people pulled from the waters at Miami Beach, two of them were naked. It’s not clear if the riptide removed their clothes.
While Rosenberg was a huge financial benefactor to the Hassidic community, he also was an admitted fraudster with ties to some of the biggest names in the Italian mob. In 1999, he pleaded guilty to a number of fraud charges, testifying against the Gambino Crime Family and John Gotti Jr. and admitting that he helped launder hundreds of thousands of dollars from a mob-owned strip club through his yeshiva in Brooklyn.
News 12 sources say religious leaders were paid off to hide Rosenberg’s checkered past and push through his burial on sacred grounds.
News 12 reached out to Village of Kiryas Joel leaders for comment, but calls were not returned.
