Question

2008 April 29, Marc Lacey, "'Virtual kidnappings' in Mexico play on very real fears," New York Times (retrieved 2 July 2015):

[T]hree suspects were brothers, ages 19, 31 and 34, who were caught collecting money squeezed from a victim. The two younger brothers blamed their older sibling, who has been in and out of prison for years, for putting them up to it.

Accepted Answer

(idiomatichttps://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#idiomatic) To encouragehttps://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/encourage or trickhttps://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trick (someone) to perform an action which is foolishhttps://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/foolish or wronghttps://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wrong.

Sentence	2008 April 29, Marc Lacey, "'Virtual kidnappings' in Mexico play on very real fears," New York Times (retrieved 2 July 2015): [T]hree suspects were brothers, ages 19, 31 and 34, who were caught collecting money squeezed from a victim. The two younger brothers blamed their older sibling, who has been in and out of prison for years, for putting them up to it.
Definition	( idiomatic https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#idiomatic ) To encourage https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/encourage or trick https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trick (someone) to perform an action which is foolish https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/foolish or wrong https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wrong .

April Marc Lacey Virtual Kidnappings Mexico Play Real