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Rosario Melici admitted in November that he killed a New Jersey woman and another man about 20 years ago, the Sun Sentinel reports.Handout 

BROWARD COUNTY, FL. — When a scheming wife wanted to collect an inheritance or insurance policy, she got Rosario "Ross" Melici to kill the people in her way, Melici allegedly told police.

Melici, on trial for two Florida murders, has told police that he killed two other people about 20 years ago, one in New Jersey and the other in Staten Island, according to the Sun Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale.

The newspaper said Melici, a 60-year-old painter, is facing two counts of premeditated murder in the deaths of Barbara and Phillip Russo, 78 and 88, respectively, last November. He admitted to killing them in their Deerfield Beach condo, the newspaper said.

While being interrogated by a Broward County detective in November, Melici admitted killing a New Jersey condo association manager and another man in the 1990s in separate murder-for-hire schemes, the Sun Sentinel reported.

In 1992, a woman was in a dispute over an estate inheritance with Doris McGarry, a Marlton, N.J., condominium association office manager who was overseeing the estate, according to the newspaper.

The woman turned to her husband, Christopher Lavary, and Melici to kill McGarry so she could collect on the inheritance, the newspaper said.

In January 1992, Lavary punched and strangled McGarry inside her apartment, while Melici tied her up, Melici told the detective, according to the newspaper.

Evesham Township police would later find McGarry with a plastic bag over her head, the newspaper said. Her death was ruled a homicide.

Two years later, Lavary's wife wanted to collect on an insurance policy, so she asked Melici to kill him, the newspaper said.

Melici shot Lavary, who was once described as his best friend in a newspaper, in a wooded area in Staten Island, Melici told the detective, according to the Sun Sentinel.

Melici was charged in connection with Lavary's death, but the case dropped in 1997 because of unclear forensic evidence, the newspaper said.

At the time, Melici told the Staten Island Advance that he was"glad it's over. There's been a lot of stress in my family."