A Philadelphia man received a 20-year prison sentence for his role in a 2014 murder-for-hire of Jersey City politico Michael Galdieri, which was orchestrated by political consultant Sean Caddle, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger announced.
Bomani Africa, 62, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit murder for hire.
Vazquez then imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.
Caddle pleaded guilty on January 25th, 2022 to his role in the murder scheme and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 22nd. Vazquez is also overseeing his case.
In April of 2014, Caddle solicited another conspirator, George Bratsenis, 74, of Monroe, Connecticut, to commit a murder on Caddle’s behalf in exchange for thousands of dollars.
Bratsenis then recruited Africa, a longtime accomplice, to join the plot. After Bratsenis confirmed his and Africa’s interest in the job, Caddle told Bratsenis that the target was a longtime associate who had worked for Caddle on various political campaigns that he believed had stolen from him.
On May 22, 2014, Africa and Bratsenis traveled from out of state to the victim’s apartment in Jersey City. After entering the apartment, Africa and Bratsenis stabbed the victim to death and then Bratsenis set fire to the victim’s apartment.
After Caddle learned that the victim had been murdered, the following day, he met Bratsenis in the parking lot of a diner in Elizabeth.
Caddle paid Bratsenis thousands of dollars in exchange for the murder, and Bratsenis shared a portion of those proceeds with Africa.
Africa has been incarcerated since 2015 due to an armed robbery and was also received a separate 10-year sentence . He was recently sentenced to 10 years in prison last week for a bank robbery he committed with Bratsenis.
In addition to the prison term, Vazquez sentenced Africa to five years of supervised release.
Bratsenis pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy on March 24th, 2022, and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 29th, 2023.
In November, former New Jersey Senate staffer Tony Teixeira pleaded guilty to working with Caddle to defraud campaigns and super PACs out of $107,800.
Caddle’s political career began in Hudson County in the late 90s and one of his super PACs, the Committee for Economic Growth and Social Justice, had ties to Hudson County in 2014 – the same year that Galdieri – the son of a judge and a former Jersey City council candidate – was killed, as only HCV reported.