Griselda Blanco
Netflix recently dropped a miniseries following the story of real-life drug queenpin Griselda Blanco, portrayed by Sofia Vergara. Back in the 1970s- early 2000s, Blanco ruled the drug game in Miami. She was popularly known as the black Widow or Cocaine Godmother. The show was directed by Andrés Baiz and produced by Eric Newman and Sofía Vergara. After watching the show, you might be curious to learn more about Griselda Blanco. Well, wonder no more because we’ve researched for you. Here is what we found out:
Griselda’s childhood
Griselda was born on 15th February 1943 in Cartagena, Colombia to mother Ana Lucía Restrepo and father Fernando Blanco. When she was 3, Griselda and her mom moved to o Medellín. This was when Griselda was first introduced to the life of crime, and by the time she was 13, she had started robbing people.
Following the sexual abuse she underwent at home with her mom’s boyfriend, Griselda chose to run away from home at the age of 19 and tried her best to survive by stealing. It is alleged that she turned to prostitution during this time, but there has been no definitive evidence of this. However, Alberto and Fernando bring this up in the first and second episodes of the show.
Who were the men in Griselda’s life?
In the Netflix show, we meet Griselda in 1978 when she’s just killed her husband, Alberto Bravo, and she has three kids. In the show, one of her sons is clear that Alberto is not his father. Well, Griselda was initially married to Carlos Trujillo, and they had three kids: Dixon, Uber, and Osvaldo Trujillo. Allegedly, Griselda had Carlos killed soon after their divorce following a business dispute.
Griselda soon met and married her second husband, Alberto, the drug baron. It is said that Alberto was the man who first introduced her into the drug business. The couple tried to chase the American dream in 1965 when they moved to Queens, New York. Their drug business thrived for a while, but Griselda was soon indicted on federal drug conspiracy charges. The family moved back to Colombia in 1975 to avoid conviction. It is rumoured that Griselda was also dissatisfied with her husband’s inefficiency in running the business. Alberto had lost so much of their money.
She and Alberto never had any kids, and she killed Alberto after a heated argument. This forced her to flee to America since, at the time, Alberto was one of the most ruthless men in the Colombian cocaine business.
After fleeing to Miami in the late 1970s, Griselda hit the ground running and started a drug supply business again. This time, with no man to tie her down. It is unclear how Dario Sepúlveda came into Griselda’s life. According to the Netflix series, Dario was formerly Fernando’s bodyguard. Fernando, Alberto’s brother, chased down Griselda to avenge his brother. In the series, Fernando asks Dario to kill one of Griselda’s sons, and in retaliation, Dario shoots his boss, thus saving Griselda.
Soon after, Griselda hired Dario as her bodyguard, and they started sleeping together secretly. The couple had a son named Michael Corleone Blanco. Unfortunately, the couple separated in 1983, when Dario had enough and took Michael back to Colombia. It is alleged that the couple fought over custody of Michael, and ultimately, Griselda had Dario killed and her son brought back to America.
How did Griselda’s sons die?
Griselda was arrested in 1985 and subsequently charged with conspiring to manufacture, import, and distribute cocaine. After the trial, she was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years. At the same time, the police continued to look for more evidence against her, and they successfully managed to charge Griselda with three counts of first-degree murder. This was all thanks to the prosecution’s deal with Jorge “Rivi” Ayala-Rivera, Griselda’s hitman.
Ayala is suspected of killing at least 40 people on Griselda’s order. This includes Chucho’s two-year-old son. Chucho used to work for Griselda but offended her and got a hit put out on him. Sadly, Chucho survived the drive-by shooting, but his son didn’t.
The prosecutor thought he had a solid case against Griselda, thanks to Rivi’s cooperation. However, the case failed to go to trial owing to technicalities regarding a phone sex scandal between Ayala and two female secretaries who worked in the state attorney’s office.
While serving her time in prison, her enemies coordinated different attacks on her sons simultaneously. Three of her four children died, and only Michael survived.
How did Griselda die?
In 2004, Griselda was given a compassionate release from prison owing to her deteriorating health. She was subsequently deported to Medellín. Her son Michael says Griselda later turned to religion and became a devout Christian. In September 2012, Griselda was shopping in a butcher shop with her daughter-in-law. An unknown assassin on a motorbike shot her twice. She died on the spot at 69 years old.
What happened to Michael?
Michael is currently 45 years old and has had some run-ins with the law. Back in 2012, he was placed under house arrest following his sentencing on two felony counts of cocaine trafficking and conspiracy to traffic in cocaine. He later started his own clothing business and has appeared on numerous TV shows to discuss his life. He is currently suing Netflix for their portrayal of his mom in their new mafia series inspired by the real-life of his mom.
What do you think of Griselda’s life? Have you been watching the Netflix series? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
I hope that people who watch this series see that drug use destroys everything and everyone. Also, that the drug business takes advantage of the most vulnerable people in society. Drugs are bad, no matter how you look at it.
La serie Netflix sulla Blanco, è stata girata con attenti ma vecchi cliché stile Hollywood.
Gli attori appaiono giovanili e benestanti, cosa diversa nella vita reale di Griselda & C.
Malgrado questo, le scene appaiono reali e ben fatte, un misto di Scorsese e Tarantino.
I boss locali quanto il capo cartello, recitano molto bene. Quanto alla poliziotta archivista, la sua figura convince, malgrado la debolezza con i suoi colleghi. Gli sfondi, le ville ed i motel, sono ben arredati per l’epoca di riferimento, forse troppo.
Storia ben fatta e convincente, anche se con 6 puntate. Gli episodi potevano essere comunque di più, compreso l’incontro con Escobar, ed altri contatti di fuoco. Voto 4 stelle.
A good mother? She was anything but that. Did she possibly love and care about her children, maybe?
But she put herself first. No parent that truly loves their children does that. She was a Selfish and power hungry criminal and murderer. She could have easily got out of the game way before her sons were killed.
Whoever said she was a good mother must be hitting Griselda’s crack pipe. A good mother does not lead their children into a life of crime. She lead this life because she was hungry for power and money, she did not do this for her children. That’s delusional.
I feel so sad that women like Griselda got caught in this kind of life. Money as usual the cause of all evils. She probably deserved what happened to her but at the end, I think she was still a good mother. May you rest in peace Griselda Bianco. Lucifer will find another victim like Griselda but I hope they become much smarter by chasing quick money, used it for a better purpose then quit.