Man at center of murder-for-hire plot says corruption probe was a ‘sham’

by Nancy Solomon, New Jersey Monitor

When campaign consultant Sean Caddle pleaded guilty in 2022 to murder-for-hire, he was allowed to remain at home for nearly two years while he cooperated with federal prosecutors on a political corruption investigation. 

But that probe went nowhere, and now a series of prison interviews with Caddle raises questions about why the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark wasn’t able to bring charges stemming from a sweeping pay-to-play scheme that Caddle ran. 

“This was all a sham,” Caddle said. “I was never questioned [about] what I was doing wrong with those groups.”

Caddle, 47, is serving a 24-year sentence at the federal correctional institution at Fort Dix in Burlington County for paying two hitmen to murder Michael Galdieri in his Jersey City apartment in 2014.

Galdieri was a friend of Caddle’s and, as the son of a former state senator, hung around and worked on campaigns. 

Caddle signed a cooperation agreement with federal prosecutors in 2021 that required him to plead guilty to the murder-for-hire plot and provide information about political corruption.

“He has been working, collaborating with the FBI in developing an important investigation,” defense attorney Edwin Jacobs told the court when Caddle pleaded guilty and was allowed to return home. 

Twenty months later, prosecutors noted his cooperation and recommended a lighter sentence.

But little came of the investigation, and Caddle received a longer sentence than was recommended by the prosecutors.

Lee Cortes, an assistant U.S. attorney at the time, told the court he was satisfied with Caddle’s cooperation, but the information was “not actionable.” Cortes asked for a sentence of 15 years, but the judge tacked on another nine. 

Caddle insists he had evidence of political corruption, but he was never asked about it.

“I said, ‘Look, I’ll peel back all the layers of the dark money funds that existed,’” Caddle said he told federal prosecutors. “While initially stating they had tremendous interest, the reality was they didn’t even peel a page back on it.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark declined to comment.

Caddle worked on political campaigns for about 20 years.

He was primarily a get-out-the-vote specialist and also ran a series of funds that raised money for those campaigns. Early in his career, he worked for former Sen. Bob Menendez. He also worked closely with former state Senator Ray Lesniak, a Democrat from Union County who rose to a leadership role and ran for governor in 2017.

Caddle also worked on campaigns to elect members of the Elizabeth Board of Education and on municipal elections in Perth Amboy, Bayonne, and Little Ferry. 

Caddle said he used dark-money funds for about a decade to skirt New Jersey’s pay-to-play laws, which restrict government contractors from making campaign donations.

Dark money refers to nonprofit advocacy groups that are allowed to spend 49% of their budget on election campaigns and are not required to disclose their donors.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that this kind of campaign funding is constitutional. 

Caddle said he offered federal prosecutors information that would expose the secret donors, the elected officials who took the money, and the favors the officials did for those donors.

But after his initial proffer — the statement cooperating witnesses provide about what they have to offer — neither the FBI nor the federal prosecutors followed up, he said. 

A recorded conversation obtained by the New Jersey Monitor documents a phone call between Caddle and his attorneys in the days before his sentencing.

In that conversation, the attorney, Edwin Jacobs, tells Caddle that the U.S. Attorney’s Office is telling the judge that his cooperation was “stellar” and Caddle responds that he wishes he could tell the judge that. 

“But the problem is, after we did that initial proffer that you were at, they never questioned me about any of the other people,” Caddle says on a call he recorded with his attorneys. “I wish I could tell you they asked me about 37 people. They didn’t even ask me about the other four people on the proffer.”

In the conversation with his attorneys, Caddle says the only person investigators asked him about was Antonio Teixeira, the former chief of staff to state Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union).

Teixeira, 46, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion and was sentenced to eight months of house arrest and three years’ probation in 2023, a month after Caddle was sentenced.

Teixeira admitted that he had stolen approximately $100,000 from various campaign funds run by Caddle.

Caddle said he is haunted by a phone conversation he had with Teixeira when the investigation was first closing in on him.

Caddle said he told Teixeira that he was worried about becoming a cooperating witness, because a lot of his allies and colleagues were going to be hurt.

Teixeira told Caddle he should do what’s best for his family, Caddle said. 

“My exact next words were, ‘If I do that, a lot of people will go to jail,’” Caddle said. “His exact words, without skipping a beat, was, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be all right.’”

Caddle now looks back at that conversation and believes Teixeira had the protection of powerful people.

“What do you mean you’re going to be all right? How are you going to be all right?” Caddle said. 

Teixeira didn’t respond to a request for comment.

It’s impossible to know why the investigation never went any further. If there were a grand jury convened, that information would never be made public.

Peter Katz is a federal criminal defense lawyer in New Jersey who was a prosecutor for many years, worked on political corruption cases in New York, and then worked in Trenton for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Katz said it’s not unusual to see no charges come from information provided by a cooperating witness. 

“The difficult part is when you have a piece of information, you have no idea how that fits into a larger picture,” Katz said.

He did not have any information about the Caddle case and spoke with the New Jersey Monitor to provide context. It’s impossible to know why prosecutors don’t bring a case because they are ethically bound to keep information secret if no charges are filed. 

“Usually it’s for a non-nefarious reason. It may be a manpower issue. It may be it doesn’t rise to the level of their interests. It may not align with what the U.S. attorney wants to focus on at the time. It may be there’s not enough evidence,” Katz said. “And it may be because of either incompetence or laziness or political persuasions. Certainly all those are possible. And I’ve certainly have unfortunately seen prosecutors do things that are unethical and inappropriate.”

Caddle looks back at the 20 months he was on home arrest, waiting for investigators to interview him. He thinks he was a patsy. 

“When it turned into a nothing burger, you know, you’re shaking your head going, ‘What happened here?’” Caddle said. 

The expectation among many was that Caddle’s cooperation would result in a major corruption case because he was allowed to remain at home for so long. 

“I remember so many different articles about, oh, how this is going to be the moment. And I’m reading these articles at home, and I’m thinking to myself, Wel,l boy, I don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. Like, I’m here. I’m not talking to anyone,” Caddle said. “And then you get frustrated, you develop anger, you get to feel like you got played.”