Hitman sent to prison for sensational murder-for-hire of NJ politician
An old mob leg breaker from Fairfield County has been given what amounts to a life sentence for the sensational murder-forhire of a New Jersey politician.
A federal court in Newark sentenced George Bratsenis to 16 years in prison for taking what prosecutors said was “thousands of dollars” from a New Jersey political consultant to murder Michael Galdieri, another New Jersey political operator.
Bratsenis, 74, originally from Stamford, has spent much of his life in prison and is dying of cancer.
He has admitted to being paid by political operative Sean Caddle to kill Galdieri, with whom Caddle had worked in the past. Prosecutors have not disclosed a motive.
Bratsenis was accused of conspiring with Caddle and Bomani Africa of Philadelphia, a longtime partner in crime he met while doing a sentence in New Jersey for jewelry store robberies.
Bratsenis and Africa drove to Galdieri’s Jersey City apartment from Connecticut, stabbed him to death and lit the apartment on fire. A day later, Caddle paid Bratsenis at a diner in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Bratsenis began building his criminal resume in the 1970s and ’80s, after graduating from Stamford High School and fighting as a U.S. Marine Corps tunnel rat in Vietnam from 196872.
After the service, he began doing strongarm work and other jobs for the Gambino crime family, a criminal force in the state’s southwest corner.
In 1984, he was charged in a conspiracy with then-stamford police Lt. Lawrence Hogan and two others to murder drug dealer David “the Turk” Avnayim, part of what authorities said was a plan by crooked cops and the mob to rob drug dealers.
Bratsenis often partnered with another mob-connected hoodlum named Louis “Trigger Lou” Sclafani, until Sclafani joined the federal witness protection program and turned on him. Sclafani was relocated, made millions of dollars in the trash industry and was named “Man of the Year” in his new city where he was settled, according to two lawyers who remained in contact with him.
Sclafani was a key government witness against Bratsenis at a 1980s trial when Bratsenis was charged with a variety of felonies, including bank robbery and conspiring to kill “The Turk.” Under cross-examination, Sclafani admitted he would not hesitate to lie under oath if could save himself. Bratsenis was convicted anyway and sentenced to 30 years.
After serving his Connecticut sentence, Bretsenis was transferred to a New Jersey prison to serve time there for a jewelry heist. He was confined for more than three years with Caddle’s brother, James Caddle, at the Northern State Prison in Newark, according to state corrections department records.
James Caddle was in prison for kidnapping, burglary and robbery convictions.
Bratsenis and Africa also met in the New Jersey prison system, according to Connecticut records. Africa, 61, was formerly known as Baxter Randolf Keys.