Griselda Blanco: Difference between revisions
Cyberbot II (talk | contribs) Rescuing 1 sources, flagging 0 as dead, and archiving 15 sources. #IABot |
|||
Line 23: | Line 23: | ||
==Biography== |
==Biography== |
||
Blanco was born in [[Cartagena, Colombia]], on the country's north coast. She and her mother, Ana Lucía Restrepo,<ref>[http://m.semana.com/nacion/griselda-blanco-tan-cruel-como-escobar/184299-3.aspx Her mother's name] {{es icon}}</ref> moved to [[Medellín]] when she was three years old. In the [[documentary film]] ''[[Cocaine Cowboys 2|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.<ref name="maxim">{{cite journal|title=Searching for the Godmother of Crime|journal=[[Maxim (magazine)|Maxim]]|url=http://www.maxim.com/humor/articles/57005/searchingforthegodmotherofcrime.html|date=July 2008|last=Brown|first=Ethan|pages=94–98|issn=1092-9789|publisher=Alpha Media Group|accessdate=October 3, 2010 |
Blanco was born in [[Cartagena, Colombia]], on the country's north coast. She and her mother, Ana Lucía Restrepo,<ref>[http://m.semana.com/nacion/griselda-blanco-tan-cruel-como-escobar/184299-3.aspx Her mother's name] {{es icon}}</ref> moved to [[Medellín]] when she was three years old. In the [[documentary film]] ''[[Cocaine Cowboys 2|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.<ref name="maxim">{{cite journal|title=Searching for the Godmother of Crime |journal=[[Maxim (magazine)|Maxim]] |url=http://www.maxim.com/humor/articles/57005/searchingforthegodmotherofcrime.html |date=July 2008 |last=Brown |first=Ethan |pages=94–98 |issn=1092-9789 |publisher=Alpha Media Group |accessdate=October 3, 2010 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/20100614094614/http://www.maxim.com:80/humor/articles/57005/searchingforthegodmotherofcrime.html? |archivedate=June 14, 2010 }}</ref><ref name="cowboys2">{{cite video|people=Corben, Billy (director); Cosby, Charles (himself); Blanco, Griselda (herself)|date=July 29, 2008|title=Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin' with the Godmother|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1176726|medium=DVD|publisher=Magnolia Home Entertainment|accessdate=October 3, 2010|ASIN=B00180R03Q|id={{UPC|876964001366}}}}</ref> |
||
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,<ref name="maxim"/><ref name="cowboys2"/> until age 20. She married her first husband, Carlos Trujillo, and gave birth to three sons: Dixon, Uber, and Osvaldo.<ref name="maxim" /> |
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,<ref name="maxim"/><ref name="cowboys2"/> until age 20. She married her first husband, Carlos Trujillo, and gave birth to three sons: Dixon, Uber, and Osvaldo.<ref name="maxim" /> |
Revision as of 06:23, 18 January 2016
Griselda Blanco | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | September 3, 2012 | (aged 69)
Cause of death | Murder |
Other names | La Dama de la Mafia (The Lady of the Mafia ) The Godmother The Black Widow |
Spouse | Carlos Trujillo |
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 gave birth to 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$80,000,000 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 who displeased her, led her rivals to make repeated attempts to kill her. She moved to California to escape the assassination attempts.
Arrest
On February 20, 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 Blanco's 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 Sepúlveda assassinated in Colombia, and her son returned to her in Miami.[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 died after having been shot twice in the head 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]
Rapper Lil Kim has created an alter ego in tribute to Griselda called Kimmy Blanco, the royalty rapstar and Hip Hop veteran has featured this persona in her latest releases including a song named "Kimmy Blanco"
Blanco played a significant role in Jon Roberts' book American Desperado (2011).[13]
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.
Gotham's Jada Pinkett Smith claims to have based her portrayal of Fish Mooney, a ruthless gang lord, on Blanco.[14]
A film titled The Godmother is currently in-production, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones as Blanco.[15]
In Comedy Central's television series Drunk History (season 3, episode 2, "Miami") Dan Harmon tells the story of the rise and fall of Blanco, starring Maya Rudolph as Griselda Blanco, Horatio Sanz, and Joe Lo Truglio. [16]
See also
- Pablo Escobar
- Cocaine Cowboys
- Enedina Arellano Félix-another well known female alleged cartel leader
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Brown, Ethan (July 2008). "Searching for the Godmother of Crime". Maxim. Alpha Media Group: 94–98. ISSN 1092-9789. Archived from the original on June 14, 2010. Retrieved October 3, 2010.
{{cite journal}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Her mother's name Template:Es icon
- ^ a b c Corben, Billy (director); Cosby, Charles (himself); Blanco, Griselda (herself) (July 29, 2008). Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin' with the Godmother (DVD). Magnolia Home Entertainment. ASIN B00180R03Q. UPC 876964001366. Retrieved October 3, 2010.
- ^ Substance Abuse in America: A Documentary and Reference Guide By James A. Swartz, p.193
- ^ Mistresses of mayhem: the book of women criminals by Francine Hornberger, p.32
- ^ The Mammoth Book of Gangs by James Morton
- ^ Corben, Billy (director); Roberts, Jon (actor); Sunshine, Al (actor); Burstyn, Sam (actor); Munday, Mickey (actor); Palumbo, Bob (actor) (January 23, 2007). Cocaine Cowboys (DVD). Magnolia Home Entertainment. ASIN B000KLQUUS. UPC 876964000635. Retrieved October 3, 2010.
- ^ United States v. Griselda Blanco, 861 F.2d 773 (2d Cir. 1988)
- ^ a b Alvarado, Francisco (October 13, 2011). "Michael Corleone Blanco lives in the shadow of his cocaine-queen mother". Miami New Times. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
- ^ Alvarado, Francisco (September 5, 2012). "Griselda Blanco's Son Michael Corleone Still Faces Cocaine Trafficking Charge in Miami". Miami New Times. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
- ^ Luscombe, Richard (September 4, 2012). "'Godmother of cocaine' shot dead in Colombia". The Guardian. Retrieved March 3, 2014.
- ^ "Jacki-O Declares Everything Is Cool With Her And "The Godmother" Griselda Blanco". Hip-Hop Wired.
- ^ Jon Roberts and Evan Wright (November 1, 2011). American Desperado. Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 0-307-45042-2.
- ^ Jacqueline Cutler (September 22, 2014). "'Gotham': Jada Pinkett Smith's Fish Mooney part Norma Desmond, part assassinated drug lord – Zap2it – News & Features". Zap2it.
- ^ "On the Set for 6/29/15: Justin Lin Rolls Cameras on 'Star Trek Beyond', Emilia Clarke Wraps 'Me Before You'". ssninsider.com. June 29, 2015. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
- ^ "The Godmother of Cocaine". cc.com. September 8, 2015. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
Sources
- Smitten, Richard (November 1, 1990). The Godmother: the true story of the hunt for the most bloodthirsty female criminal of our time. Pocket Books. ISBN 978-0-671-70193-2. Archived from the original on February 7, 2009. Retrieved October 3, 2010.
External links
- Cosby, Charles. "Charles Cosby: From Early Childhood to Cocaine and Hustlin'". Charles Cosby. theblogunion.wordpress.com.
- Griselda Blanco pagina web
- Washington Post: Drugs
- Red Orbit: Cocaine 'Godmother' Released From Prison
- Female Scarface
- U.S. v. Griselda Blanco, 861 F.2d 773
- 1943 births
- 2012 deaths
- 20th-century criminals
- Bisexual women
- Cocaine in the United States
- Colombian emigrants to the United States
- Colombian female murderers
- Colombian mass murderers
- Colombian mob bosses
- Deaths by firearm in Colombia
- History of Miami, Florida
- Illegal drug trade in the United States
- LGBT mobsters
- LGBT people from Colombia
- Medellín Cartel traffickers
- Murdered mobsters
- People from Santa Marta
- People deported from the United States