A New Jersey-based political consultant was sentenced today to 288 months in prison for hiring two men to kill a longtime associate who had worked for him on various political campaigns, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Sean Caddle, 45, of Hamburg, 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. Judge Vazquez imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

“Sean Caddle unleashed two violent hitmen to stab Michael Galdieri to death and set fire to his apartment,” U.S. Attorney Sellinger said. “Despite being lifelong friends, Caddle paid to have Galdieri murdered because he thought that his own business interests were at risk. 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.”

“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,” FBI Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy said. “Caddle now faces justice for paying to having his former colleague and friend murdered. He will spend years in federal prison contemplating his actions, a small price to pay when another man lost his life.”

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

In April of 2014, Caddle solicited George Bratsenis of Monroe, Connecticut, to commit a murder on Caddle’s behalf in exchange for thousands of dollars. Bratsenis recruited Bomani Africa a longtime accomplice from Philadelphia, 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.

On May 22, 2014, Bratsenis and Africa traveled from out of state to the victim’s apartment in Jersey City. After entering the apartment, Bratsenis and Africa stabbed the victim to death and then set fire to the victim’s apartment. After Caddle learned that the victim had been murdered, he met Bratsenis in the parking lot of a diner in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Caddle paid Bratsenis thousands of dollars in exchange for the murder, and Bratsenis shared a portion of those proceeds with Africa.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Vazquez sentenced Caddle to five years of supervised release.

Bratsenis was sentenced on March 29, 2023, to 16 years in prison; Africa was sentenced on Feb. 23, 2023, to 20 years in prison.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Dennehy, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing. He also thanked the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office and IRS-Criminal Investigation for their assistance.

The government is represented by Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee M. Cortes Jr., Sean Farrell, Chief, New York Office, Department of Justice, Antitrust Division.

From Yahoo.com: “Sean Caddle was sentenced in federal court Thursday to 24 years in prison for his role in the baffling murder-for-hire plot that resulted in the death of his friend nearly a decade ago.

“It was far more punitive than the 15 years prosecutors requested for the man who admitted hiring two hitmen to kill his former friend Michael Galdieri.

“Ostensibly because he had agreed to cooperate with federal investigators on unrelated cases, Caddle awaited his sentencing for a year and a half at home wearing an ankle monitor, a show of leniency that stunned legal experts and led many to predict Caddle, a political consultant, possessed information that would lead to significant arrests or bring down powerful people.”

From the AP:

“Caddle, a 45-year-old former Democratic campaign consultant, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit murder-for-hire in the killing of Michael Galdieri, whose apartment was set on fire after he was fatally stabbed in 2014.

“U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez sounded skeptical of Caddle’s acceptance of any responsibility, saying it sounded as if he was trying to ‘save his own skin’ by cooperating with prosecutors in a separate tax and wire fraud case that led to a guilty plea from a former top aide to the state Senate president.”

Antonio Teixeira, 43, of Elizabeth, last year pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of tax evasion.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From 2014 to 2018, Teixeira conspired with Caddle, and Caddle’s political consulting firms, to defraud various campaigns, political action committees, and 501(c)(4) organizations of $107,800. Teixeira then failed to report this illicit income on tax forms that he filed with the IRS during those same years.

Caddle was hired by a former New Jersey state senator (Ray Lesniak) to create the PACs and 501(c)(4)s so that they could raise and spend money to advocate on a variety of issues, including supporting particular candidates in local races around New Jersey. Teixeira served as the senator’s chief of staff and wielded influence over the consultants that the campaigns and organizations hired and the budgets that each of these organizations would receive.