Former New Jersey political operative Sean Caddle received a 24-year prison sentence, along with five years of supervised release, from U.S. District Judge John Michael Vasquez for orchestrating a 2014 murder-for-hire scheme.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
In January 2022, Caddle, 45, of Hamburg, pleaded guilty to paying George Bratsenis and Bomani Africa $15,000 to kill Michael Galdieri, a former Jersey City council candidate who was also the son of an ex-judge, back on May 22nd, 2014.
He had remained on house arrest ever since.
“Sean Caddle unleashed two violent hitmen to stab Michael Galdieri to death and set fire to his apartment. Despite being lifelong friends, Caddle paid to have Galdieri murdered because he thought that his own business interests were at risk,” U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said in a statement.
“Today’s sentence is a just punishment for a heinous crime and provides some measure of justice for the victim and his family. I want to credit the dedicated agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the members of my Office who doggedly pursued this cold case murder investigation for years and have now brought to justice all three individuals responsible for the death of Michael Galdieri.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy added that the sentence was “a small price to pay when another man lost his life.”
“Regardless of any dispute or argument a person has with someone, hiring hitmen to solve it is not only cold-hearted and despicable, but also against the law.”
A June 16th sentencing memo from Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean Farrell and Lee Cortes, Jr. indicated that Galdieri had told Bratsenis he was the “envelope guy” or “bag man” for Caddle.
The memo, which has a number of redactions, also said that Caddle decided to have Galdieri killed after he threatened to blackmail him.
“There is nothing redeeming about either version of the motive for this murder. And although Caddle did not wield the knives, or the gas can used to burn the apartment, Galdieri died by Caddle’s orders,” the memo says.
“The promise of Caddle’s money unleashed two violent, longtime criminals to carry out the brutal stabbing of Galdieri, forever removing an irreplaceable human life from this world. On behalf of the victim and his family, Caddle must be sufficiently punished.”
The government sought a 15-year prison sentence, while Caddle’s attorneys sought nine years, though their six-page sentencing memo was almost completely redacted.
In March, Caddle’s sentencing was delayed for a fourth time at least partially due to his mother’s death, where Cortes said his cooperation with the government had concluded.
Today gave no further clarity on what matters Caddle was cooperating on, nor if the government was still investigating those matters, though Vazquez indicated that Caddle recorded 30 politicos before cooperating and “numerous” others while cooperating.
For the moment, only one politico has been charged.
Former New Jersey Senate staffer Tony Teixeira pleaded guilty in November to working with Caddle to defraud campaigns and political action committees (PACs) out of $107,800.
This occurred between 2014 and 2018, when Teixeira was then-state Senator Ray Lesniak’s (D-20) chief of staff, who also paid Caddle as a political consultant to run several of his campaigns during that time frame.
Africa received a 20-year prison sentence in February and Bratsenis was sentenced to 16 years the following month.
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 he had Galdieri killed – as only HCV reported.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with comments from U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger and FBI Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy.
Well, this HudCo crime is solved. Maybe Seth Rich can get justice. He was rubbed out.
https://twitter.com/JoshWalkos/status/1671659347154284544