Prominent Democratic Consultant Pleads Guilty to Murder for Hire Plot
A former New Jersey Democratic political consultant has pleaded guilty to hiring two men to commit a 2014 murder.
Sean Caddle, 44, of Hamburg, New Jersey, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge of conspiracy to commit murder for hire, according to a news release posted by the Justice Department.
Caddle, who could be sentenced to life in prison and fined $250,000, is currently in home detention on a $1 million unsecured bond.
“This was a callous and violent crime, and this defendant is as responsible as the two men who wielded the knife,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
“There is no more serious crime than the taking of another person’s life. The defendant has admitted arranging and paying for a murder by two other people. His admission of guilt means he will now pay for his crime.”
“Today’s guilty plea will bring some sense of closure to the victim’s family who has been left to wonder — for nearly eight years — who murdered their loved one,” Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. explained.
“This should serve as a warning to criminals and potential criminals, alike – while you are going about your life, thinking you ‘got away with it,’ the FBI is piecing together the facts that will serve as your undoing,” he continued.
The criminal information against Caddle says that in April 2014, he arranged with a Connecticut resident not named in the information to commit a murder.
That individual subsequently arranged with a person from Philadelphia, who is also not named, to carry out the crime.
The criminal information said that on May 22, 2014, the two unnamed individuals went to a Jersey City, New Jersey, apartment in which the victim was living, stabbed him to death and set fire to the apartment.
Caddle is accused of paying the two killers “thousands of dollars.”
A former NJ political consultant admitted to a murder-for-hire scheme where a Hudson County politico was killed in 2014.
https://t.co/mxxCtEmezZ— David Wildstein (@wildstein) January 25, 2022
No motive was given by the Justice Department.
According to Politico, the details as given by the Justice Department match the circumstances of the death of Michael Galdieri, who is identified as a former Jersey City Council candidate.
A 2014 report in the Hudson County Reporter said Galdieri worked for Caddle’s consulting group.
Former state Sen. Ray Lesniak, for whom Caddle had worked from time to time, said he had been working on a project with Caddle even as the case against him was coming to its close.
He did not describe what the project entailed.
“I just spoke to him today. He didn’t say anything. Amazing,” Lesniak said. “He’s an immense political talent. It’s so hard to believe.”
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