She said Marie Galdieri 'had a complete look of anguish on her face,' became a shell of who she was and died three years after the killing. Virginia Galdieri, Michael's sister, spoke in the courtroom about sitting outside the home of her mother, Marie, trying to find the words to tell her that her son had been murdered. Victim's sister cried in Caddle's arms at repast In addition to the prison term, Vazquez sentenced Caddle to five years of supervised release. Richard Galdieri, Michael's brother, said the family was pleased with the sentence. Raymond Lesniak, and was one of the first in New Jersey to take advantage of newly sanctioned, largely unregulated political groups that could raise and spend unlimited amounts of money without disclosing their donors, many of which were linked to Lesniak.Ĭaddle, 45, faced the potential of a life sentence and a $250,000 fine for his guilty plea to the federal murder-for-hire charge. Vazquez said it was disturbing that Caddle's remarks made it sound like he was a victim in the case.Ĭaddle worked for a long list of high-profile clients over his two decades as a political operative, including U.S. 'It was a depraved, debased and vile crime.'īoth Vazquez and the prosecutors mentioned a comment made by Caddle in his statement to probation before sentencing to the effect that he should have surrounded himself with a class of people with better moral character. 'This was one of the most unusual and most heinous crimes I have encountered as a judge,' Vazquez said in the courtroom. District Judge John Vazquez, who imposed a far lengthier sentence than the prosecutors had requested. Instead, his cooperation led to the indictment of one man, the former chief of staff to the Senate president, for tax evasion and wire fraud.Īnd his cooperation didn't appear to impress U.S. Ostensibly because he had agreed to cooperate with federal investigators on unrelated cases, Caddle awaited his sentencing for a year and a half at home wearing an ankle monitor, a show of leniency that stunned legal experts and led many to predict Caddle, a political consultant, possessed information that would lead to significant arrests or bring down powerful people. It was far more punitive than the 15 years prosecutors requested for the man who admitted hiring two hit men to kill Michael Galdieri. Sean Caddle was sentenced in federal court Thursday to 24 years in prison for his role in the baffling murder-for-hire plot that resulted in the death of his former friend nearly a decade ago. Watch Video: NJ murder-for-hire case early leads included mafia, drugs, art: Video

Vazquez sounds