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Minor Character: Miami
Clavo Cruz
Name Clavo Cruz
Gender Male
Family Ramon Cruz (half-brother; incarcerated)
Antonio Cruz (Stepfather; deceased)
Dona Marta Cruz (mother)
Joseph Trevi (biological father)
Pedro Salvado (cousin)
City Miami
Occupation Former Baseball Player
Pathology Spree Killer
Proxy Killer
Cop Killer (once)
Accomplice to murder
Drug dealer
Cigarette smuggler
Animal smuggler
No. of Victims 3 dead
4 killed by proxy
1 tried
5+ attempts per proxy
Status Deceased
Portrayed By Gonzalo Menendez
First Appearance Blood Brothers

Clavo Cruz was a spree killer who first appears in Season 2 of CSI: Miami. He was the archenemy of Alexx Woods, Eric Delko and Horatio Caine.

Season Two[]

Blood Brothers[]

Clavo started out as an arrogant criminal who killed a model with his Lamborghini to protect his brother Ramon Cruz, who had accidentally drowned the model's roommate. When the team tried to arrest Clavo, it was revealed that the brothers' father was General Antonio Cruz, an ambassador from the Baracas, an area which was under diplomatic immunity from the United States. Therefore, they could neither arrest Clavo nor could they use any of his possessions as evidence.

His older brother, Ramon however on the other hand, was able to be arrested, as the woman he drowned was on Canadian soil (the Canadian Embassy), and had Canadian blood because the woman he accidentally killed was from Montreal Quebec, Canada, and because he sailed the Bahamian flag into international waters, leaving him unprotected and arrested in the Bahamas.

Season Three[]

Identity[]

Clavo reappears after being traced to the murder of a woman who was found after being swallowed and then regurgitated from a boa constrictor. Then, a partygoer is killed when he overdoses on drugs supplied by Clavo. He continues to taunt Caine, using the line "We never close", a line Caine had spoken after arresting Ramon.

A blood test of General Cruz, the alleged father of Ramon and Clavo, revealed that although Clavo and Ramon had the same mother, Dona Marta Cruz, they had different fathers, making Clavo a stepson of General Cruz. When Caine reveals Marta’s infidelity to the family, the General becomes infuriated. Caine then reminds the General that he can disown Clavo and thus rescind his immunity at any time. Antonio immediately rescinded his immunity and Clavo was arrested and incarcerated.

Season Five[]

No Man's Land[]

From prison Clavo orchestrates an attack on a weapons truck which results in the murder of two cops, and indirectly a boy named Jesse Tavarez, who was shot accidentally by his brother Ben when he messed with one of the stolen guns found in the trash. Clavo stabs a prison guard while being interrogated by Horatio about the incident. While at the courthouse, he had one of his men fire a rocket stolen from the truck at the building he was in, injuring several people, including Alexx Woods. Clavo then managed to escape in the confusion.

He led Horatio to believe he kidnapped an innocent women. He forced Horatio to withdraw money put into his account in exchange for the woman he kidnapped and after it was done he claimed he left her in the trunk of a car in a parking lot. He later lures Horatio and Eric into a parking lot to find a hostage, who turns out not to be there; it's later revealed that she is actually an accomplice. In the ensuing gun battle with his cohorts, one of his men managed to shoot Eric in the leg. Horatio quickly pulled Eric out of the line of fire and used a car to shield themselves. After Horatio managed to successfully finish off the last of Clavo's men, a security guard shoots Eric in the head because Clavo offered him $100,000 to do so. Eric was rushed to the hospital where he remained in critical condition.

Man Down[]

Clavo later arrived at his stepfather's house where he shot him in revenge for abandoning him. Antonio then died seconds later in Horatio's arms.

Later on, Clavo's real father is revealed, and as it turns out, Clavo had smuggled illegal blood diamonds into Miami, and his escape from jail was intended to help his father sell them to underground dealers. One of the dealers is raided and shut down after the plain sight of illegal child labor by Natalia and Ryan.

After being disowned by his biological father and having nothing to live for, Clavo approaches Horatio with his gun drawn, knowing Horatio would shoot him; effectively committing suicide by cop.

Modus Operandi[]

Clavo had varied methods of killing when he killed his victims, such as hitting with a car and stabbing. He later shot his victims with a gun he took from a bailiff. His proxy victims were also killed differently (i.e., strangled by a snake Clavo brought into the country, drug overdosing, bombing, and shooting).

Known Victims[]

  • September 21, 2003: Tess Kimbel (ran her over with his car)
  • February 5, 2007:
    • Unnamed corrections officer (stabbed to death)
    • Cathy Gibson (abducted and left her to die in the ocean; was rescued)
    • Antonio Cruz (his step-father; shot to death)

Victims by Proxy[]

The following were either killed by Clavo's men or because of circumstances surrounding him

  • February 14, 2005:
    • Tanya Fhumn (strangled by a snake that Clavo ordered to be brought into the country due to her body being heated up by a drug that Clavo provided and made her think was ecstasy)
    • The party overdosing (one fatality; drugs supplied by Billy Palmero):
      • Kevin
      • Two unnamed partygoers (overdosed, but survived)
  • 2007:
    • February 4:
      • The weapons truck bombing (two fatalities):
        • Officer Matt Cranby (killed in the explosion rigged by Richard Williams)
        • Officer Chris Ryder (shot once in the chest by Pedro Salvado)
      • Jesse Tavarez (shot once in the chest by accident with a gun in the trash fired by his brother Ben)
    • February 5:
      • The courthouse explosion (no fatalities):
        • Alexx Woods (injured)
        • Numerous unnamed people (all injured)
      • The parking lot shooting (no fatalities):
        • Horatio Caine
        • Eric Delko (attempted, but barely survived; shot in the leg by an unnamed sniper and in the head by Stan Keeler)

Known Accomplices[]

  • Richard Williams
  • Pedro Salvado (cousin; incarcerated)
  • Cathy Gibson (former; left her in the beach to die, was resuced and eventually incarcerated)
  • Joseph Trevi (Clavo's biological father; abandoned Clavo once he had his diamonds)
  • Stan Keeler (incarcerated for attempted murder of Eric Delko)

Appearances[]

CSI:Miami
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 #
Season 2 X - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - N/A 1
Season 3 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - X - - - - - - - - - N/A 1
Season 5 - - - - - - - - - - - - - X X - - - - - - - - - N/A 2
Total 4
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