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Career Criminal From Connecticut, 73, Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire Of Jersey City Politico
A hardened ex-con from Connecticut admitted that he and a longtime criminal pal from Philadelphia stabbed a political consultant to death and then torched his Jersey City apartment in a murder-for-hire attack.
George Bratsenis, 73, of Monroe, CT said he and his partner were paid to whack Michael Galdieri, the son of former State Sen. James Galdieri (D-Jersey City) and a prominent figure in local Hudson County politics.
Bratsenis and the other killer, Bomani Africa, 61, were hired by onetime political operative Sean Caddle, who’d been an aide to former State Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) a…
Belleville Post Office Renamed For Korean War Hero
When he was 20 years old, Private Henry Svehla charged an enemy position during a battle June 12, 1952, near Pyongony, Korea. The young rifleman “inflicted heavy casualties,” according to a narrative prepared by the Army, but didn’t emerge unscathed: a mortar round detonated nearby, causing serious wounds.
Svehla, however, kept leading the charge anyway, until he was killed when he threw himself on a grenade that had landed near his comrades.
Svehla, who was born in Newark and lived in Belleville, was recognized at the time for his bravery during the Korean War, earning a posthumous Distin…
