Man allegedly tried to kill 3 in family

While allegedly negotiating the murders of his estranged wife, mother-in-law, and 7-year-old daughter, John Orlowski insisted the prospective hit man shoot his wife and mother-in-law twice in the head but that his daughter be shot once in the chest, because he wanted her to have an open casket, federal authorities said.

But the man Orlowski allegedly recruited to kill his family was actually posing as a hired killer in cooperation with the FBI and recording Orlowski's instructions, said US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan in a prepared statement released last night.

Orlowski, 49, of Beverly, was arrested Friday, five days before the murders were allegedly supposed to occur, and charged with attempting to arrange murder by hire. He is expected to appear in US District Court in Boston tomorrow.

The man Orlowski negotiated with, a self-described member of the Crips gang not identified by authorities, met Orlowski in the Essex County House of Correction in Middleton. At that time, Orlowski was being held after allegedly violating a restraining order by visiting his estranged wife's home, on Feb. 14. It was his second arrest in six weeks for allegedly violating the restraining order.

After the first arrest, police allegedly found more than 120 firearms illegally stored in the Beverly house he had previously lived in with his wife and daughter.

When he was arrested the second time, Orlowski was charged with unlawful possession of a machine gun.

The man whom Orlowski allegedly hired to carry out the murders told his mother he was troubled by the prospect of a 7-year-old being killed, and last Thursday, she contacted police, according to an FBI affidavit .

The next day, the recording was made of the meeting between Orlowski and the man.

In the statement released yesterday, the US attorney's office said Orlowski went into detail about the planned killings, instructing the man to leave the house in disarray to make it "look like a drug hit" and to bring spent bullet casings to scatter in the house to throw off investigators.

Orlowski allegedly agreed to pay $2,000 for the killings.

He provided a diagram of the house where his wife, mother-in-law, and daughter live, the affidavit says, and Orlowski insisted he would have no regrets about his daughter's killing.

Referring to her as a "tree," apparently as a code word, Orlowski allegedly said, "The tree's got to be cut down. Everything has to start anew."

He also allegedly said on the recording, "It's got more to do with my wife than anything."

"I've been through too much," he allegedly said. "She did it to me."