Griselda Blanco, whose life is now a Netflix series, was a cocaine trade pioneer who made her mark on the streets of Miami.
Here’s what to know about the “godmother of cocaine”:
Her death
She died at age 69 in 2012 with a Bible placed on her chest. She was shot twice in the head in a quiet Medellín suburb.
Time in jail
She served 19 years in U.S. prisons before being deported to Colombia in 2004.
Drug career
She moved to New York and started trafficking in marijuana. But Blanco saw a growing lucrative market in cocaine, which was easier to tuck into the bras and girdles she had specially made.
PHOTOS: The many faces of the real Griselda: See photos of Miami’s ‘godmother of cocaine’
Murder cases
Blanco was alleged to have been responsible for the deaths of at least two of her ex-husbands. She was criminally charged for three killings, in a case that fell apart when it was revealed that the star witness had phone sex with the secretaries at the Miami-Dade state attorneys office. She served time for drug trafficking and three murders, including the 1982 slaying of a 2-year-old boy in Miami.
Reputation
Blanco came to epitomize the “cocaine cowboy” bloodshed of the 1980s, when rival drug dealers brazenly ambushed rivals in public. She was considered a Colombian pioneer in drug smuggling to the United States, a precursor to the larger cartels that dominated in the 1980s.
Miami mall attack
Investigators linked her to the 1979 submachine gun attack at Dadeland Mall that shocked Miami.
Screen star
Before the most recent Netflix series, starring Sofia Vergara, Blanco was introduced to Miami via two “Cocaine Cowboys” documentaries made by filmmakers Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman.
Note: Articles from the Miami Herald archive was used to compile this list.
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