The Colombian drug lord met a grisly, undignified end.
Griselda Blanco’s departure from this world was as dramatic as you’d expect from a woman who was nicknamed the “Cocaine Godmother” and “Black Widow”.
The Colombian native was one of the most notorious and powerful cartel bosses to have ever done it, successfully wresting control of the South Florida drug trade from the hands of her many adversaries in the late 1970s and ’80s, despite being a woman, and reportedly just five foot tall.
Her net worth was said to have been in the billions, and the Miami murder rate reportedly increased substantially during her rule.
But Blanco’s lifestyle put a target on her back, and she eventually met a brutal, grisly end.
Who killed Griselda Blanco?
Griselda Blanco died on 3rd September 2012, in Antioquia, a department of Medellín, Colombia. She was 69 years old.
Blanco was shot twice in the head by two mystery assailants travelling on a motorcycle while she was leaving a butcher’s shop – a style of killing that officials said Blanco herself leaned on frequently to do away with her adversaries.
She died en route to the hospital.
Her pregnant daughter-in-law was also present, but was unharmed. She’s said to have placed a Bible on Blanco’s chest following the attack.
The identity of the killers, who immediately fled the scene, remains unknown, despite a police search. But Blanco certainly had no shortage of enemies.
“It’s some kind of poetic justice that she met an end that she delivered to so many others,” said Professor Bruce Bagley, author of Drug Trafficking in the Americas and head of the University of Miami’s department of international studies (via The Guardian).
“Here is a woman who made a lot of enemies on her rise and was responsible for the deaths of untold numbers of people.
“She might have retired to Colombia and wasn’t anything like the kind of player she was in her early days, but she had lingering enemies almost everywhere you look. What goes around comes around.”
🔴Así fueron los crímenes y la historia de vida de la viuda negra Griselda Blanco ⬇️https://t.co/tZGGhyE3Oj pic.twitter.com/RrVPAEy9E7
— EL TIEMPO (@ELTIEMPO) January 19, 2024
Blanco served approximately two decades in a US prison after being sentenced for drug trafficking in 1985, and later pleading guilty to three charges of second-degree murder.
Blanco was said to have been involved in at least 40 murders, and at most 200.
In 2004, she was deported back to Colombia, and reportedly turned her back on organised crime.
Blanco is survived by one son, Michael Corleone Blanco. His father was Dario Sepúlveda, Blanco’s third husband.
“My mother was no saint,” he told The Mirror in 2020. “She had to survive to do her thing. But at the end of the day, she was my mother. I will forever honour and respect her. I love her.”
On her death, he said: “It was a call I had been dreading for years. I’d spoken to her at two that morning. They said to me, ‘Michael, I’m standing over your mother’s dead body.’
“Even right now it brings tears to my eyes because I was with my boys when I got that phone call. I was teaching my youngest one how to swim. I said, ‘I’m not going to let these kids live the life that I lived.’
“But to get out of that life you have to let certain individuals know there won’t be any retributions. It was taken care of in the old country, Colombia.”
Blanco’s other sons – Osvaldo, Dixon and Uber – were all killed.
Griselda is available to stream now on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on.
Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.