New Jersey political consultant Sean Caddle pleads guilty in murder-for-hire plot

Sean Caddle, a longtime New Jersey Democratic political consultant and onetime aide to former state Sen. Ray Lesniak, pleaded guilty Tuesday to hiring two people to kill a former associate, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.

The 44-year-old resident of Hamburg, Sussex County, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder for hire in the stabbing death of the unnamed victim. He is currently in home detention on $1 million bond and potentially faces life in prison.

“This was a callous and violent crime, and this defendant is as responsible as the two men who wielded the knife,” Phil Sellinger, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, said in a statement. “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.”

Caddle admitted hiring two people from Connecticut and Pennsylvania to kill the victim in May 2014, according to the office. According to Sellinger’s release, the victim was stabbed to death and his apartment set on fire. Caddle met with the killers, who were not identified, the day after the murder in the parking lot of an Elizabeth diner and paid them “thousands of dollars in cash,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Sellinger did not indicate a motive for the killing.

While the victim isn’t named, the circumstances match up with the until-now unsolved murder of Michael Galdieri, a former Jersey City Council candidate and son of the late state Sen. James A. Galdieri.

According to a 2014 Hudson County Reporter article, Galdieri worked for Caddle’s consulting group. On the eve of Galdieri’s 2005 Jersey City council campaign, he was arrested on drugs and weapons charges. After taking a plea deal, he spent two years in prison, according to the Hudson County Reporter article.

Caddle was well-known in New Jersey politics and in recent years ran a network of shady super PACs that appeared to have been designed to hide the true source of the money they pumped into local races. Caddle was also involved in a Texas voter fraud scandal.

Caddle often worked with Lesniak, managing the Union County Democrat’s 2017 gubernatorial campaign and a pro-Lesniak super PAC. Lesniak said in a phone interview Tuesday evening that he has been working on a project with Caddle. He declined to elaborate.

“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.”