A New Jersey political consultant has admitted to hiring two men to kill a longtime associate in 2014.
Sean Caddle pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder for hire, according to a Justice Department release. The judge allowed Caddle, who faces up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine, to remain free on a $1 million unsecured bond combined with home detention via electronic monitoring and travel restrictions.
"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."
The Associated Press reported that Caddle, who worked on political campaigns for former New Jersey state Senator Raymond Lesniak, gave authorities information in September, about a month before he signed a plea agreement. In exchange, the government dropped two additional charges related to the murder-for-hire plot.
According to the Justice Department, documents filed in the case indicate that Caddle contacted an accomplice in 2014 from Connecticut, and that person then recruited another accomplice from Philadelphia. Those two individuals then allegedly drove to the victim's apartment in Jersey City, New Jersey, and stabbed the victim to death before setting the apartment on fire.
Although the documents do not mention the victim's name, the manner of the crime matched the death of Michael Galdieri, 52, who was found dead in his apartment in 2014 after firefighters responded to a fire at the location, reported by NJ.com. The state regional medical examiner concluded the cause of death was multiple stab wounds.
Court documents show that once Caddle learned about the victim's death the following day, he met one of the accomplices in the parking lot of a diner in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and paid him thousands of dollars.
"Today's guilty plea will bring some sense of closure to the victim's family who have been left to wonder—for nearly eight years—who murdered their loved one," said Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. was quoted in the Department of Justice statement.
Galdieri, the son of the former state Senator James Galdieri, worked on campaigns for former state Assemblyman Lou Manzo and on Bret Schundler's run for Jersey City mayor in 1993, according to NJ.com.
In a phone interview with the AP, Lesniak expressed his shock over Caddle's involvement in the scheme.
"He led a double life. While he was running campaigns for me—a lot of them very successful—he was arranging a murder," Lesniak was quoted by the AP.
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