NEWARK, N.J. – A Connecticut man was sentenced at present to 192 months in jail for his function in a homicide for rent scheme by which a New Jersey-based political advisor paid him and one other man to kill a longtime affiliate, U.S. Lawyer Philip R. Sellinger introduced.
George Bratsenis, 74, of Monroe, Connecticut, beforehand pleaded responsible by videoconference earlier than U.S. District Choose John Michael Vazquez to an info charging him with one rely of conspiracy to commit homicide for rent. Bratsenis’ conspirators, Sean Caddle and Bomani Africa, beforehand pleaded responsible to their roles within the homicide scheme. Africa was sentenced on Feb. 23, 2023, to twenty years in jail. Caddle is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29, 2023.
Based on paperwork filed on this case and statements made in courtroom:
In April of 2014, Caddle solicited Bratsenis to commit a homicide on Caddle’s behalf in alternate for hundreds of {dollars}. Bratsenis recruited Africa, a longtime confederate from Philadelphia, to hitch the plot. After Bratsenis confirmed his and Africa’s curiosity within the job, Caddle advised Bratsenis that the goal was a longtime affiliate who had labored for Caddle on varied political campaigns.
On Could 22, 2014, Bratsenis and Africa traveled from out of state to the sufferer’s condominium in Jersey Metropolis. After getting into the condominium, Bratsenis and Africa stabbed the sufferer to dying after which set hearth to the sufferer’s condominium. After Caddle discovered that the sufferer had been murdered, the next day, he met Bratsenis within the car parking zone of a diner in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Caddle paid Bratsenis hundreds of {dollars} in alternate for the homicide, and Bratsenis shared a portion of these proceeds with Africa.
Along with the jail time period, Choose Vazquez sentenced Bratsenis to 5 years of supervised launch.
U.S. Lawyer Sellinger credited particular brokers of the FBI, below the route of Particular Agent in Cost James E. Dennehy in Newark, with the investigation resulting in at present’s sentencing. He additionally thanked the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Workplace for its help.
The federal government is represented by Government Assistant U.S. Lawyer Lee M. Cortes Jr. and Assistant U.S. Lawyer Sean Farrell, Chief of the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace Cybercrime Unit.
