Griselda Blanco

Griselda Blanco

Blanco in Medellin, Colombia
Born February 15, 1943
Cartagena, Colombia[1]
Died September 3, 2012 (aged 69)
Medellín, Colombia
Cause of death
 Murder
Other names La Dama de la Mafia (The Lady of the Mafia )
The Godmother
The Black Widow
Children 4 sons

Griselda Blanco (February 15, 1943 – September 3, 2012), known as La Madrina, the Black Widow, the Cocaine Godmother and the Queen of Narco-Trafficking, was a drug lord of the Medellín Cartel and a pioneer in the Miami-based cocaine drug trade and underworld during the 1970s and early 1980s. She was an important member of the Medellin Cartel but developed a bad rapport with the Cartel when she had the niece of the Ochoa family of the Medellin Cartel, Marta Saldarriaga Ochoa, murdered in order to not pay for a shipment of cocaine delivered by Marta. Her plan was to say she never received the shipment and that the young lady disappeared with it. After the young woman's body was found on a rural south Florida road, it became open season on Griselda and she was subsequently "on the run".

Biography

Blanco was born in Cartagena, Colombia, on the country's north coast. She and her mother, Ana Lucía Restrepo,[2] moved to Medellín when she was three years old. In the documentary film Cocaine Cowboys II: Hustlin' with the Godmother, Blanco's former lover, Charles Cosby, recounted how Blanco, at age 11, allegedly kidnapped, tried to ransom, and eventually shot a child from an upscale flatland neighborhood near her own slum neighborhood.[1][3]

By her preteens, she had become a pickpocket, and at the age of 14 she ran away from her allegedly physically abusive mother. Blanco resorted to prostitution for a few years in Medellín,[1][3] until age 20. She married her first husband, Carlos Trujillo, and bore three sons: Dixon, Uber, and Osvaldo.[1]

Blanco was openly[4] bisexual.[5][6]

Drug business

Blanco played a major role in the history of the drug trade in Miami and other cities across the United States.

In the mid-1970s, Blanco and her second husband, Alberto Bravo, emigrated to the US, settling in Queens, New York. They established a sizable cocaine business there, and in April 1975, Blanco was indicted on federal drug conspiracy charges along with 30 of her subordinates, at that time the biggest cocaine case in history. She fled to Colombia before she could be arrested, but in the late 1970s she returned to Miami.

Miami drug war

The return of Griselda Blanco to the US from Colombia is what led the start of the mass murders.[1][3]

Blanco was involved in much of the gangland drug-related violence known as the Miami Drug War or the Cocaine Cowboy Wars that plagued Miami in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when cocaine supplanted marijuana.[7]

It was the lawless and corrupt atmosphere, primarily from Blanco's operations, that led to the gangsters being dubbed the "Cocaine Cowboys" and their violent way of doing business as the "Miami drug war".

Her distribution network, which spanned the United States, brought in US$80 million per month.[1] Her violent business style brought government scrutiny to South Florida, leading to the demise of her organization and the free-wheeling, high profile Miami drug scene of those times.

In 1984, Blanco's willingness to use violence against her Miami competitors, or anyone who displeased her, led her rivals to make repeated attempts to kill her. She moved to California to escape the assassination attempts.

Arrest

On 20 February 1985, she was arrested by DEA agents in her home. Held without bail, Blanco was sentenced to more than a decade in jail.[8] She continued to run her cocaine business while in jail. By pressuring one of her lieutenants, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office obtained sufficient evidence to indict her for three murders. However, the case collapsed, largely due to technicalities, and Blanco was released from prison and deported to Colombia in 2004.[1] Before her death in 2012, she was last seen in Bogota Airport in May 2007.[1]

Family

Blanco had four sons, three of whom were killed in Colombia after being deported following prison sentences in the United States. Blanco bore her youngest son, Michael Corleone Blanco by her lover Darío Sepúlveda, who left her in 1983, returning to Colombia, kidnapping Michael when he and Griselda disagreed over who would take custody. Blanco paid to have Sepulveda assassinated in Colombia, and her son returned to her in Miami.[3][9] According to the Miami New Times, "Michael's father and older siblings were all killed before he reached adulthood. His mom was in prison for most of his childhood and teenage years, and he was raised by his maternal grandmother and legal guardians."[9]

In 2012, her last living child, Michael Corleone Blanco, was under house arrest after a May arrest on two felony counts of cocaine trafficking and conspiracy to traffic in cocaine.[10]

Death

On the night of September 3, 2012, Griselda Blanco was killed in a drive-by shooting by a motorcyclist in Medellín, Colombia.[11]

In popular culture

Blanco features prominently in the documentary films Cocaine Cowboys (2006) and Cocaine Cowboys 2 (2008; also written as Cocaine Cowboys II: Hustlin' With the Godmother).

Rapper Jacki-O released a mixtape entitled Griselda Blanco, La Madrina (2010) as an ode to Blanco's lifestyle and character. Griselda Blanco's son, Michael Blanco, later gave his blessing to promote the mixtape.[12]

Blanco played a significant role in Jon Roberts' book American Desperado (2011).[13]

Blanco was featured in episode 2 of Deadly Women, season 4, titled "Outlaws" (first airdate 19 August 2010). Blanco's character, Graciela Rojas, is portrayed by Colombian actress Luces Velasquez, in the Colombian TV series Escobar, el patrón del mal (2012). Blanco was featured in episode 3, season 1 of Gangsters: America's Most Evil (2012).

Blanco's character, Griselda Blanco, is portrayed by Mexican actress Ana Serradilla, in the Spanish-language telenovela La Viuda Negra (2014), an adaptation of the book La patrona de Pablo Escobar de José Guarnizo. Jada Pinkett Smith said she based her portrayal of Fish Mooney on Blanco[14]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Brown, Ethan (July 2008). "Searching for the Godmother of Crime". Maxim (Alpha Media Group): 94–98. ISSN 1092-9789. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  2. ↑ Her mother's name (Spanish)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Corben, Billy (director); Cosby, Charles (himself); Blanco, Griselda (herself) (29 July 2008). Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin' with the Godmother (DVD). Magnolia Home Entertainment. ASIN B00180R03Q. UPC 876964001366. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  4. ↑ Substance Abuse in America: A Documentary and Reference Guide By James A. Swartz, p.193
  5. ↑ Mistresses of mayhem: the book of women criminals by Francine Hornberger, p.32
  6. ↑ The Mammoth Book of Gangs by James Morton
  7. ↑ Corben, Billy (director); Roberts, Jon (actor); Sunshine, Al (actor); Burstyn, Sam (actor); Munday, Mickey (actor); Palumbo, Bob (actor) (23 January 2007). Cocaine Cowboys (DVD). Magnolia Home Entertainment. ASIN B000KLQUUS. UPC 876964000635. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  8. ↑ United States v. Griselda Blanco, 861 F.2d 773 (2d Cir. 1988)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Alvarado, Francisco (13 October 2011). "Michael Corleone Blanco lives in the shadow of his cocaine-queen mother". Miami New Times. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  10. ↑ Alvarado, Francisco (Sep 5, 2012). "Griselda Blanco's Son Michael Corleone Still Faces Cocaine Trafficking Charge in Miami". Miami New Times. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  11. ↑ Luscombe, Richard (September 4, 2012). "'Godmother of cocaine' shot dead in Colombia". The Guardian. Retrieved March 3, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Jacki-O Declares Everything Is Cool With Her And "The Godmother" Griselda Blanco". Hip-Hop Wired.
  13. ↑ Jon Roberts and Evan Wright (1 November 2011). American Desperado. Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 0-307-45042-2.
  14. ↑ Jacqueline Cutler (22 September 2014). "'Gotham': Jada Pinkett Smith's Fish Mooney part Norma Desmond, part assassinated drug lord - Zap2it - News & Features". Zap2it.

Sources

External links