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Political Consultant Admits To ‘Callous And Violent’ Murder-For-Hire
The U.S. Attorney said Sean Caddle paid two men who stabbed an unnamed victim and set his apartment on fire.
A New Jersey man once tied to several political scandals has admitted to his role in a 2014 murder-for-hire.
Sean Caddle, 44, pleaded guilty to conspiring with two unnamed men in a plot to kill a longtime associate on May 22, 2014, according to U.S. Attorney Phillip R. Sellinger. On Tuesday, Caddle admitted to paying the co-conspirators thousands in cash to travel over state lines before stabbing a man to death and setting his Jersey City apartment on fire.
Though court records didn’t name Caddle’s target, media sources, including the New York Times and ABC News, noted the details of the murder matched that of Michael Galdieri, 52, whose case was covered by NJ.com. Galdieri, the son of the late state Sen. James A. Galdieri, worked as a political operative and helped in several mayoral campaigns in New Jersey. According to a 2014 article from The Hudson Reporter, Galdieri worked with Caddle’s political consulting group.
“This was a callous and violent crime, and this defendant is as responsible as the two men who wielded the knife,” said Sellinger, according to the Department of Justice. “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.”
Federal prosecutors said Caddle solicited a co-conspirator from Connecticut (identified only as “CC-1” in court records) in April 2014. CC-1 then recruited a “longtime accomplice” from Philadelphia (CC-2) to aid him in the murder-for-hire, according to the Department of Justice.
On the night of the murder, both co-conspirators traveled from their respective states of Connecticut and Pennsylvania to cross state lines into New Jersey, according to the US Attorney’s filings. Caddle met CC-1 at a diner in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and paid him for the murder the following day. CC-1 shared his proceeds with CC-2.
FBI Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. commented on the political consultant’s plea.
Investigators did not reveal a motive.
Caddle, of Hamburg, New Jersey, had previously been tied to several political scandals.
In 2010, Caddle headed a voter registration group in Houston, Texas, where an investigation revealed only 1,793 of 25,000 registrations were valid, according to Fox News. In 2017, Caddle’s consulting firm, “Arkady,” managed several democratic PACs, many the subject of suspicion as to how they spent their money in local elections, according to Politico.
US District Judge John Michael Vasquez permitted Caddle to be released on $1 million unsecured bond and ordered Caddle to house arrest for the murder-for-hire charges, according to the Department of Justice. He faces life in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The statuses of CC-1 and CC-2 are unknown.
