The Shocking True Story of Griselda
If you don't know the name Griselda, you will soon. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re discussing the rise and fall of Griselda Blanco.
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00:00 "One woman is behind all this. Pull the right card, the whole house comes down."
00:05 Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're discussing the rise and fall of Griselda Blanco.
00:10 "Beyond the movies, I mean, I don't even think Miami Vice would be this flamboyant."
00:14 Early Life and Crimes
00:17 Griselda Blanco Restrepo was born on February 14, 1943, in Cartagena, Colombia.
00:24 Growing up in the slums of Medellin, she allegedly endured abuse from the boyfriends
00:28 of her mother Ana Blanco, a sex worker with substance use disorder, as well as from her
00:32 clients. "She lived in a neighborhood that was so uniquely criminal that it had been
00:37 designated a tolerance zone, which is to say a red light district, by the city."
00:42 Surrounded by crime and violence, young Griselda also reportedly fell into this line of work,
00:48 in addition to committing petty crimes and pickpocketing to provide for herself.
00:52 By some accounts, she escalated to kidnapping a boy close to her age from a wealthy neighborhood
00:57 and killing him when his family refused to pay the ransom.
01:00 "This was another level of killing that cannot be explained by anything I think in her background.
01:05 I think it's something in her soul."
01:07 The Queen of Queens
01:08 Only a couple of years later, Blanco met and married her first husband, Carlos Trujillo,
01:13 who got her involved in the business of forging IDs and documents and smuggling immigrants over
01:18 the border. Together, the couple had three children, sons Osvaldo, Hubert, and Dixon,
01:23 and immigrated to New York to continue counterfeiting.
01:26 "Together they organized the illegal smuggling of thousands of people into the United States."
01:31 After separating, Blanco married her second husband/business partner, Alberto Bravo,
01:38 a drug smuggler who got her into the trafficking trade.
01:42 They started with marijuana, but chose to move to what would become a more lucrative operation.
01:47 "Blanco has much bigger ambitions for overhauling the drug trade
01:51 and building a cocaine empire in America."
01:55 The highly in-demand substance was also easier to transport,
01:59 so Blanco crafted undergarments that would seamlessly conceal it.
02:02 "These garments would allow for the drugs to be more smoothed around the body.
02:06 It would just look like a woman's natural figure."
02:10 She had successfully built an empire, and business was doing more than good.
02:16 In 1974, she also managed to evade being captured by Operation Banshee,
02:21 a joint operation between the Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA,
02:25 and the New York Police Department, or NYPD.
02:28 "They wonder if she's got out of the cocaine business, or maybe even been killed.
02:32 But then in 1976, events a thousand miles away in Florida give agents a brand new set of leads."
02:44 The Miami Drug War
02:46 In the late 1970s, Blanco set up shop in Miami, Florida.
02:50 She and the Medellin Cartel were at the center of the city's ongoing drug-related violence.
02:54 On July 11, 1979, two men were publicly murdered in what became known as the Dayland Massacre,
03:01 marking the beginning of the Miami Drug War.
03:04 "My mother always told me, 'You know what's the best way to take care of your competition?
03:08 Erase your competition. Then you have nobody to compete with.'"
03:12 Griselda killed Alberto Bravo in Bogota in 1975.
03:16 In 1978, Griselda married Darío Sepúlveda, a sicario working for her,
03:21 with whom she had one child the same year.
03:24 As a fan of mobster movies, particularly The Godfather,
03:27 she named her fourth son Michael Corleone Blanco.
03:30 "He's an assassin himself, and even she was too much for him.
03:34 He's worried about the well-being of his son."
03:40 In 1983, Sepúlveda left Blanco, and when the two couldn't come to a custody agreement,
03:46 he kidnapped Michael.
03:47 She allegedly had him killed, and their son witnessed everything.
03:51 "Griselda Blanco ordered the hit on her husband, and there's no doubt in my mind
03:56 that she didn't care whether her son saw the assassination or not."
04:00 After over a decade spent investigating, DEA agent Bob Palumbo finally caught up
04:08 with the elusive godmother in her Irvine, California home on February 17, 1985.
04:13 "I said, 'Hola, Griselda.' She looked at me with a very bewildered look.
04:17 'No, me llamo Betty.' I said, 'Nah, I don't think so.'"
04:23 He triumphantly placed her under arrest, and she was charged with conspiracy to, quote,
04:28 "manufacture, import, and distribute cocaine," resulting in a 15-year sentence.
04:33 Behind bars, Griselda concocted a bonker scheme to have her cohorts kidnap
04:38 John F. Kennedy Jr. in hopes of using the leverage to secure her release.
04:42 Of course, the plan was unsuccessful.
04:45 "No leverage there, James."
04:46 "It's Jimmy."
04:48 "I prefer James."
04:49 She was also later charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
04:53 The prosecution had a key witness, Jorge Riviera Ayala, a former hitman for Blanco,
04:58 lined up to testify. However, he lost credibility after he was caught up in a
05:03 scandal involving two secretaries who worked for the state attorney's office.
05:06 "It was all over the Miami Herald. The state attorney's office was embarrassed.
05:12 They had to fire several people."
05:13 In 1998, Blanco received a sentence of 20 years after she pleaded guilty to three
05:18 counts of second-degree murder. However, for health reasons, she was released in 2004 and
05:24 deported to her native Colombia.
05:26 "We all believed at the time that she had made so many enemies in her professional life
05:32 that as soon as she reached the tarmac on the airport in Colombia, that her lifespan was almost
05:39 nil."
05:39 On September 3, 2012, the 69-year-old seemingly retired Griselda Blanco was killed in front of
05:45 a butcher shop in Medellin. She was assassinated using the same technique she had become
05:50 notorious for ordering, in a drive-by motorcycle shooting.
05:54 "The fact that she lasted so many years, that's exceptional."
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06:13 In the media
06:16 The 2006 release of Cocaine Cowboys introduced the mainstream to the prolific Griselda Blanco,
06:21 followed up by a 2008 sequel. Her youngest and only surviving son Michael continues to appear
06:28 in documentaries and TV specials about his mother's legacy. He even joined the cast of
06:33 VH1's reality show Cartel Crew.
06:35 "We know your childhood was different. How was your childhood regular?"
06:38 "I can't say it was."
06:43 Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones starred as Blanco in Lifetime's TV movie Cocaine Godmother.
06:48 "Women are like spiders. They pull you into their web until you can no longer breathe."
06:56 For years, a Blanco biopic with Jennifer Lopez in the role has been in the works.
07:00 The most recent portrayal is Netflix's limited series Griselda starring Sofia Vergara,
07:05 which hits the streamer on January 25, 2024.
07:09 "After all that I have been through, I'm not gonna give it away for nothing."
07:13 But, according to Michael, the source material came from conversations between him and the
07:18 producers that included, quote, "private details from his artistic literary work about his family's
07:23 life." He was not compensated for the material and filed a lawsuit on January 19, ahead of the
07:29 series' debut. "I can't change. I'm trying to make way to the future. Legit."
07:34 What do you think is the best on-screen portrayal of Griselda Blanco?
07:38 Did you watch Griselda? Let us know in the comments below.
07:41 "Ms. Blanco's operation has been efficient, deadly, and incredibly successful."
07:50 Do you agree with our picks? Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo.
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