The Shocking True Story of Griselda

MsMojo

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.

Transcript

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.

07:53 And be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.

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