Arthur Jay Harris - Flowers for Mrs. Luskin: Who Ordered the Deadly Delivery for the Millionaires Wife?

Who ordered the deadlydelivery for the millionaires wife?

A True Story

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Copyright 2018, Arthur Jay Harris

Revised and updated from the original

FLOWERS FOR MRS. LUSKIN is a journalisticaccount of the actual investigation and conviction of Paul Luskinfor an attempted murder-for-hire of Marie Luskin in Hollywood,Florida in 1987. The events recounted in this book are true.Research has been done using author interviews, law enforcement andother public records, published and broadcast news stories, andbooks. Quoted sworn testimony has been taken verbatim fromtranscripts.

Copyright 1997, 2013, 2018 by Arthur JayHarris

Published by arrangement with the author.

Originally published by Avon Books

All rights reserved, which includes theright to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any formwhatsoever except as provided by the U.S. Copy right Law. For information, please email the author at http://www.arthurjayharris.com

Cover and typographicaldesign: Bruce Kluger, New York City. http://www.brucekluger.com

First electronic book edition: March 2013

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Other true crime books by

JEFFREY DAHMERS DIRTY SECRET:

THE UNSOLVED MURDER OF ADAM WALSH

(A TWO BOOK SERIES)

BOOK ONE: FINDING THE KILLER

Was the man in the mall the most notoriousmurderer in history?

BOOK TWO: FINDING THE VICTIM

The body identified as Adam Walsh was mostlikely misidentified.

Could Adam still be alive?

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A TWO-BOOK BOX SET

At a specially discounted price

FOR BRIEFER READING, THE TWO BOOKS

HAVE BEEN CONDENSED INTO A

SPECIAL SINGLE EDITION

First the police found the body. Then thekiller. Neither was right.

Who killed the Cigarette Boat King,

the fastest man on the seas?

Could the real-life Kojak help save a manfrom the electric chair?

ALL OF THE BOOKS ABOVE

ARE ALSO AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITIONS

TABLE OFCONTENTS

Marie and Paul, 1983. Photo courtesy Paul Luskin

Undated photo of Luskins flagship Florida store, in Hollywood. Photo courtesy PaulLuskin

Paul Luskin, whose store sold large quantities ofJapanese-branded consumer electronics, dressed in a Samurai robe inthe store's executive offices. Photo courtesy Paul Luskin

Joe Luskin, 1985. Photocourtesy Paul Luskin

Paul poses with President Ronald Reagan at afundraiser for Florida Senator Paula Hawkins, July 1986. Photo byWhite House photographer. Photo courtesy of Paul Luskin

The foyer entrance to the Luskin home, March 9,1987 . Note the scattered flower petals.Crime scene photo courtesy Hollywood Police Department

James Manley, on his arrest at the train station inBaltimore, July 1987. Photo courtesy Calvin Burns, Jr.

Sonny Cohen at Lewisburg Prison, November 1994.Photo by Arthur Jay Harris

Jim Liberto at AllenwoodLow Security Correctional Institution, November 1994. Photo byArthur Jay Harris

Paul and Susan on their wedding day, October 1989,at the federal prison in Marianna, Florida. Photo courtesy SusanLuskin

10 A.M. MONDAY MARCH 9,1987

2831 PALMERDRIVE

HOLLYWOOD,FLORIDA

Marie Luskin had just gotten herfour-year-old Diana to sleep on the sofa in the family room, alittle pillow underneath her head and a blanket covering her. Shehad been awake all night, throwing up, but Marie had given herchildrens CoTylenol and it had helped knock her out. She had anappointment later to take her to the doctor.

Dianas illness interrupted Maries normalroutine. Every weekday for the past six months, after the schoolbus picked up both Dianawho went to nursery schoolandten-year-old Shana at 8:10, Marie met her sister Joyce Elkin bynine to join a walking club at Hollywood Mall, a ten-minute rideaway. It ended at ten when the stores opened, then most of the timethe two women returned to Maries house and ate breakfast together.But this morning, Marie called Joyce and said she couldnt make it.Marie told her not to come over, she didnt want Joyces four-monthold to catch whatever Diana had.

While Diana slept, Marie sat across from herand opened the newspaper.

The doorbell rang. Marie got up to answerit.

Since her live-in housekeeper SilviaMexicanos was off from Sunday morning to Monday afternoon, Mariewas home alone, and she knew not to open the door. Instead she wentto the intercom.

Whos there?

It wasnt Joyce. It was a man with a roughvoice.

Flower delivery for Marie Luskin!

That was a curious surprise. Her husbandPaul used to send her flowers all the time, but those days hadpassed forever. A year and a half before, following Pauls affairwith another woman, Marie kicked him out of the house his parentshad helped them buy, then filed for divorce.

And what a spectacular divorce. If nastinesscould be judged quantitatively, the civil war of the Luskins wasthe meanest, most aggressive divorce Broward County had ever seen.No other divorce file in the history of the county had produced asmuch legal paper. Its ceiling high stack of boxes owned a corner ofthe clerks office.

A few years before, none of Paul and Mariesfriends would have predicted it. Most thought they had a modelmarriage. They were young, rich, socially up-and-coming,intelligent, and living in warm south Florida. That beat Baltimore,where Paul grew up and his family was prominent as TV and applianceretailers. When his dad came south, he began his own business andcalled it Luskins, like the Baltimore store he had just left. Inboth places, Luskins advertised heavily, so everyone knew theirname.