Philly man, 61, admits to murder-for-hire plot orchestrated by N.J. political consultant
Bomani Africa admitted to getting paid to fatally stab a Jersey City man in 2014.
A 61-year-old Philadelphia man pleaded guilty Wednesday to being one of two hit men hired by a New Jersey campaign consultant to kill a Jersey City man in 2014, prosecutors said.
Bomani Africa, also known as Baxter Keys or Baxter Keyes, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez in Newark, N.J., to a single count of conspiracy to commit murder for hire. Africa faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said in a statement. Africa’s sentencing is scheduled for June 7.
The consultant, Sean Michael Caddle, 44, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the same charge. Caddle had worked for years with former State Sen. Ray Lesniak as well as other prominent New Jersey Democrats.
The other alleged hit man was not identified in publicly available court documents, but NJ.com reported that prosecutors disclosed the name of George Bratsenis during Africa’s plea.
Bratsenis and Africa were charged with a series of bank robberies in Connecticut in 2014 and Bratsenis pleaded guilty in that case, court records show.
Court records show Africa was sentenced in 1986 to a minimum 25 years in state prison for a series of armed robberies in New Jersey.
NJ.com reported that a prosecutor said in court on Wednesday that Africa signed a deal to plead guilty in the murder-for-hire case in December 2020.
Court records show Caddle gave a statement to prosecutors in September in exchange for a plea deal.
Prosecutors have not named the victim, but said the fatal stabbing occurred in a Jersey City apartment that was then set on fire on May 22, 2014.
On that same date, however, Michael L. Galdieri, 52, who also worked in politics and was the son of the late State Sen. James A. Galdieri, was fatally stabbed in a Jersey City apartment that was then torched.
Prosecutors, who did not mention a motive, described the victim as a longtime associate of Caddle who had worked for him on various political campaigns.
Prosecutors said Caddle in April 2014 solicited a Connecticut resident to commit the murder and paid that person several thousand dollars in cash up front. The Connecticut conspirator then recruited a “longtime accomplice” from Philadelphia, now identified as Bomani Africa.
A day after the murder, Caddle met with the conspirator in the parking lot of a diner in Elizabeth, N.J., and paid “thousands of dollars,” which the conspirator shared with Africa, prosecutors said.
On Monday, Galdieri’s brother Richard posted on Facebook: “I had given up. I thought for sure the day would never come. I had resolved myself to the fact that who ever did this to my brother got away with murder...well ..almost 8 years later, at 7am this morning, 3 FBI agents rang my bell... They got ‘em, Mike..they got em.”