Claude Joseph Speed (born 30 August 1965) was an American career criminal who was best known for his involvement in numerous robberies and murders in New York City during the 1990s and 2000s. In 2001, he was betrayed by his girlfriend Catalina Vialpando during a bank robbery and arrested, facing ten years in prison; however, he escaped the prison convoy and ultimately had his revenge on her after weeks of work as a contract killer.
Biography[]
Claude Speed was born in 1965 in San Francisco, California, and he was involved in illegal street racing in the rural areas of southern California during the early 1990s, during which time he met the Colombian-Mexican criminal Catalina Vialpando. Catalina sired a son with Speed during this time, though had to give him away for adoption.
They left for New York City together in 1992 after giving their garage in San Francisco to Carl Johnson following their loss in a race to him, and they became famous career criminals. For nine years, the two of them committed a spree of robberies, but this ended in October 2001, when Catalina shot him during a bank robbery and told him that he was too "small-time" for her taste.
Speed was arrested by the New York Police Department and sentenced to ten years in prison, and he was thrown in a prison truck with "8-Ball". Fortunately, they managed to escape the convoy when Catalina's Colombian cartel ambushed the convoy to rescue an elderly Asian man, and the two of them made it to safety in Brooklyn, where they changed their clothes and set up a safehouse.
Working as a hitman[]
Claude Speed was introduced to Leone crime family-associated pimp Luigi Goterelli by 8-Ball, giving him a source of income. He met Don Salvatore Leone's son Joey Leone through Goterelli, Capo Toni Cipriani through Joey Leone, and Don Leone himself through Cipriani. Speed took part in hits against both the Forelli crime family and Brooklyn Triads, and he was involved in several murders and violent events. However, he ended his work for Leone when the boss attempted to have him killed, and Don Leone's unhappy trophy wife Maria Latore decided to introduce Speed to her friend Asuka Kasen, the boss of the rival Kasen Yakuza.
Kasen had Speed assassinate Leone to prove his loyalty to the Yakuza, and he proceeded to work for her triad, also working for her brother Kenji Kasen. Speed would later form connections to corrupt cop Ray Machowski, arms dealer Phil Cassidy, and real estate magnate Donald Love, who had him assassinate Kenji Kasen in order to start a gang war between the Yakuza and the Colombians. This succeeded, and the two gangs would go to war. Eventually, Love mysteriously disappeared while Kasen was murdered by the Colombians, and Catalina sent a warning to Speed, saying that she had taken Maria Latore hostage at the dam north of the city. Speed headed there to confront her, and he managed to kill her after a long shootout. With his revenge complete, he then left New York City.
