BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- A man tried to hire a hit man to kill his family, including his 7-year-old daughter, even requesting that she be shot in the chest and not the head so there could be an open casket at her funeral, authorities say.

John Orlowski, 49, made a brief appearance in U.S. District Court on Monday on the murder-for-hire charge and was ordered held without bail pending a detention hearing scheduled for Thursday.

"Thankfully the plot was uncovered by law enforcement, and three innocent victims avoided a horrible tragedy," U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said. (Watch how the feds got their suspect Video)

Orlowski's lawyer, James Roche, said Orlowski intends to plead not guilty.

Orlowski, who was going through a divorce, met the man he wanted to kill his wife, daughter and mother-in-law in county jail earlier this year after he'd been arrested a second time for violating a restraining order his wife had taken out against him, according to court documents.

He allegedly approached the man again after they were both released, and gave him a diagram of his estranged wife's house indicating the location of bedrooms and where he could find a pistol.

Orlowski initially offered $500 to plant drugs on his wife, saying if she were arrested he'd get their house in a divorce, the man told police. But he later increased the offer to $2,000 to kill the two women and the child, according to court documents.

The would-be hit man was troubled by the plot, especially the prospect of killing a child, authorities said, so he told his mother, and she called the FBI. The man was not identified but court documents referred to him as a self-professed member of the Crips gang with a lengthy criminal record.

Working with the FBI, the man met with Orlowski on Friday and taped a conversation in which Orlowski specified how many bullets he wanted in each victim -- one in the chest for his daughter and two each in the head for his wife and mother-in-law, according to authorities.

During the recorded conversation, the man repeatedly expressed concern that Orlowski might regret the killing of his daughter. But Orlowski assured the man that he would have no such regret, saying at one point, "It's got more to do with my wife than anything," according to the affidavit.
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The hitman doesn't sound like a "professional" and really could be the most interesting aspect of the story. Being in the Crips and talking to his mother about it, one might assume that this is a young man and maybe developing this last minute conscience could help turn his life around as that would be quite rewarding to go from the villian/would-be killer to the man who was able to save this family from death (of his own hands.)