BARNARD
DIRECTOR OF SAFETY & SECURITY FEATURED IN
THE ZADDIK, A NEW BOOK ABOUT NEW YORK
KIDNAPPING CASE
New
York, NY, December 7, 2001—Nine years ago,
Detective Captain William Plackenmeyer became
embroiled in a sensational kidnapping case that
spanned three countries and several years. Now
the director of Safety & Security at Barnard
College, Plackenmeyer is featured in a new book
about this unusual crime.
"It is a real thrill to have your work
recognized by being made one of the central
figures in a non-fiction novel," Plackenmeyer
said.
In 1992, 13-year-old Shai Fhima was taken from
his family, but this was not a typical kidnapping
case. Fhima was stolen by his yeshiva teacher,
Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans, and was hidden for years
by the rabbi’s zealous followers. Helbrans
brainwashed the boy and attempted to foster
a special religious "light" he believed
Fhima had.
As the supervisor in charge of the investigation,
it was Plackenmeyer’s job to loose Fhima
from the bonds of the radical Hasids who held
him. With "bulldog tenacity," Plackenmeyer
tracked down hundreds of leads and tried to
break the barrier of silence enclosing Brooklyn’s
close-knit Hasidic community.
"It was extremely frustrating, but ultimately
very rewarding," Plackenmeyer said. "The
frustration stemmed from having to overcome
all of the obstacles to justice placed in our
path by the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office
for political reasons - in order to avoid alienating
the politically powerful Hasidic community.
The rewarding feelings came from forcing Shai's
return, convicting the rabbi of kidnapping…
and most of all from being able to publicly
expose the often politically compromised and
consequently unfair system of justice at work
in Brooklyn to the cleansing gaze of media and
public scrutiny."
As the case developed, Plackenmeyer and his
colleagues uncovered a series of kidnappings
by Helbrans in Israel and America, all in the
name of religion. But always "fighting
the good fight," Plackenmeyer persevered
to return the boy to his family.
This unusual true story filled with headline-making
events unfolds in Elaine Grudin Denholtz’
book, The Zaddik: The Battle for a Boy’s
Soul, published by Prometheus Books in September
2001.
Contact: Laura Whitlock, Office of Public Affairs,
lw251@barnard.edu
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