1. Griselda Blanco Restrepo was a Colombian drug lord who was prominent in the cocaine-based drug trade and underworld of Miami, during the 1970s through the early 2000s, and who has been claimed by some to have been part of the Medellin Cartel.
18 Facts About Griselda Blanco
1. 2.
Griselda Blanco was shot dead in Medellin on September 3,2012, at the age of 69.
3.
Griselda Blanco Restrepo was born in Cartagena, Colombia, on the country's north coast.
4.
Griselda Blanco had become a pickpocket before she was a teenager.
5.
Griselda Blanco was a key figure in the establishment of the cocaine trade between Colombia and large North American cities like Miami and New York, as well as to dealers in California.
6.
In 1964, after divorcing Trujillo, Griselda Blanco illegally entered the United States with fake documentation, under an assumed name; she would end up settling in Queens, New York, with her three children and second husband, Alberto Bravo, a cocaine smuggler for the Medellin Cartel.
7.
However, nine years later in April 1975, Griselda Blanco was identified by authorities and indicted on federal drug conspiracy charges, along with thirty of her subordinates.
8.
Griselda Blanco returned to the United States in the latter half of the 1970s to start a new drug operation in Miami.
9.
On February 17,1985, Griselda Blanco was arrested in her home by DEA agents and subsequently charged with conspiring to manufacture, import, and distribute cocaine.
10.
In 1998, Griselda Blanco pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, to run concurrently.
11.
Griselda Blanco met her first husband Carlos Trujillo when she was 13 years old.
12.
Griselda Blanco had her youngest son, Michael Corleone Griselda Blanco with her third husband, Dario Sepulveda.
13.
Sepulveda left her in 1983, returned to Colombia, and kidnapped Michael when he and Griselda Blanco disagreed over who would have custody.
14.
Griselda Blanco paid to have Sepulveda assassinated in Colombia, and her son returned to her in the US.
15.
Griselda Blanco's mother was in prison for most of his childhood and teenage years, and he was raised by his paternal grandmother and legal guardians.
16.
Griselda Blanco appeared on a 2018 episode of the Investigation Discovery documentary series Evil Lives Here to recount his lonely childhood.
17.
The act mimicked the assassination style that Griselda Blanco practiced during the Miami drug war.
18.
Griselda Blanco has been featured in multiple documentaries, series, films, and songs, including several upcoming projects.