Griselda Blanco

Blanco was born in Cartagena, Colombia, on the country's north coast. She and her mother, Ana Lucía Restrepo,[7] moved to Medellín when she was three years old. Upon arriving there, she quickly adopted a criminal lifestyle. Blanco's former lover, Charles Cosby, recounted that at the age of 11, Blanco allegedly kidnapped, attempted to ransom and eventually shot a child from an upscale flatland neighborhood near her own neighborhood.[1][8][9] Blanco had become a pickpocket before she even turned 13. To escape the sexual assaults of her mother's boyfriend, Blanco ran away from home at the age of 16 and resorted to looting in Medellín until the age of 20.[1][8]

Blanco was a major figure in the history of the drug trade from Colombia to Miami, New York, and California.

In the mid-1970s, Blanco and her second husband Alberto Bravo illegally immigrated to the US with fake passports, 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. She fled to Colombia before she could be arrested, but returned to the United States, settling in Miami in the late 1970s.

Blanco's return to the US from Colombia more or less coincided with the beginning of very public violent conflicts that involved hundreds of murders and killings yearly which were associated with the high crime epidemic that swept the City of Miami in the 1980s. Law enforcement's struggle to put an end to the influx of cocaine into Miami led to the creation of CENTAC 26 (Central Tactical Unit), a joint operation between Miami-Dade Police Department and DEA anti-drug operation.[10][11]

Blanco was involved in the drug-related violence known as the Miami Drug War or the Cocaine Cowboy Wars that plagued Miami in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This was a time when cocaine was trafficked more than marijuana.[12] It was the lawless and corrupt atmosphere, primarily created by 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$80,000,000 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 else who displeased her, led her rivals to make repeated attempts to assassinate her. In an attempt to escape the hits that were called on her, she fled to California.

On February 18, 1985, she was arrested by DEA agents in her home and held without bail. After her trial, Blanco was sentenced to more than a decade in jail.[13] While in prison, she continued to effectively run her cocaine business with the help of her son Michael Blanco.

By pressuring one of Blanco's lieutenants, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office obtained sufficient evidence to indict Blanco for three murders. However, the case collapsed due to technicalities relating to a telephone-sex scandal between the star witness and female secretaries in the District attorney's office. In 2002, Blanco suffered a heart attack while imprisoned.[14]

In 2004, Blanco was released from prison and deported to Medellín, Colombia.[1] Before her death in 2012, the last sighting of Blanco was in May 2007 at the Bogotá Airport.[1]

On the night of September 3, 2012, Blanco died after being shot twice; once in the head and once in the shoulder by a motorcyclist in Medellín, Colombia.[15] She was shot at Cardiso butcher shop on the corner of 29th Street, after having bought $150 worth of meat; the middle-aged gunman climbed off the back of a motorbike outside the shop, entered, pulled out a gun, and shot Blanco two times before calmly walking back to his bike and disappearing into the city.[16] She was 69.[5]

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).

An, as of yet, to be filmed project titled The Godmother is currently in production, starring Jennifer Lopez as Blanco, which she also plans to produce.[24][25]

Catherine Zeta-Jones portrayed Blanco in Cocaine Godmother, a television biopic, which premiered in 2018 on Lifetime.[26][27]

Buffalo, New York artists Westside Gunn and Conway The Machine use Blanco's name in their label, Griselda by Fashion Rebels, abbreviated as GxFR.[28]

Rapper The Game references Griselda Blanco in his lyrics to "See No Evil" – "...karma catches up to all you head honchos/ Two dome shots to head, Griselda Blanco".

Rapper Pusha T references her in his lyrics to "Pain" (2013) – "Put your freedom over failure/Tryna find my Griselda (La Madrina!)/Might as well, they gon' nail ya/Momma screaming like Mahalia".

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.[29]

Rapper Lil Kim created alter ego "Kimmy Blanco" as tribute to Blanco; Kim debuted this persona in her 2013 single of the same name.[30]

Rapper Rick Ross referenced Blanco on the 2013 Meek Mill song "Believe It", rapping "I'm screaming RIP, Griselda Blanco".

Rapper Soolking released in July 2017 a song intitled "blanco griselda".[31]

Toronto Eastside rap duo Pengz and Two Two released the single "Griselda Blanco" in August 2017.[32]

Rap group Migos have made references to her in multiple songs, "Portland" by Drake, and their own song "F*** Up the Pot".

Rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again references her in "Slime Belief" (2018) - "Can you make it better/ trap out like Griselda/ post up with barettes/ hustlin through the night". He also references her in song “Rich As Hell” (2019) - “B****, I trap out like Griselda, hollows, I mail em’”.

French rappers Booba and Maes released a collab hit single intitled "La Madrina" (certified diamond) in which she can be seen on the cover the song.

Rapper Slimesito has a song named "Griselda" which contains multiple references to Blanco.

Rapper Nicki Minaj references Blanco in her freestyle of DaBaby's "Suge" (2019)- "Drug lord, Griselda/ I used to move weight through Delta". She is also referenced on Minaj's verse on Chance the Rapper's song, "Slide Around" (2019): "Me and my man Griselda and Pablo".

Yeasayer's song "Grizelda" is inspired by Blanco, sung from the perspective of one of her hitmen.

Reggeaton artist Justin Quiles's line in the "Bellaquita (Remix)" references Blanco: "Y yo le puse Griselda Blanco/ Porque chinga como la patrona (Patrona), sí (Ey)".

Blanco played a minor role in Marlon James' book A Brief History of Seven Killings (2014).[33]

Blanco played a significant role in Jon Roberts' book American Desperado (2011).[34]

In Comedy Central's Drunk History, season 3, episode 2 ("Miami"), Dan Harmon tells the story of the rise and fall of Blanco, starring Maya Rudolph (as Blanco), Horatio Sanz, and Joe Lo Truglio.[35]

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 used her as a model for her character Fish Mooney on Gotham.

Blanco was also featured among the Deadly Women top 10 as #3 on the killer countdown.

The television series Get Shorty features a character named Amara de Escalones (played by Lidia Porto), who is based on Blanco.

Blanco was also featured on the Investigation Discovery series Evil Lives Here in an episode called "The Last Blanco".

A very fictionalized version of Blanco known as La Madrina appears in the Archer episode "Smuggler's Blues" (Season 5, Episode 7).

In the Netflix series Daybreak the career of Griselda Blanco serves as a role model for the child prodigy Angelica and her peddling of prescription drugs.

Griselda Blanco's life, from her abusive childhood to her death, was covered on the June 5, 2018 episode of Behind the Bastards, a podcast hosted by Robert Evans [36] and the October 8, 2019 episode of She Sleuths, a true crime podcast hosted by Kristin Harris and Amy Springer.[37] Griselda Blanco is also featured on 3 episodes of the Female Criminals podcast hosted by Parcast ( 2018-03-17, 2018-03-18, 2020-06-14 ).[38]