Griselda Blanco
| Griselda Blanco | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 15, 1943 Cartagena, Colombia |
| Died | September 3, 2012 (aged 69) Medellín, Colombia |
| Cause of death | Murder (ballistic trauma) |
| Nationality | Colombian |
| Other names |
La Dama de la Mafia (The Lady of the Mafia ) The Godmother The Black Widow |
| Criminal charge | Drug trafficking, murder |
| Criminal penalty | 3 20-year sentences in prison (served 25 years) |
| Spouse(s) | Carlos Trujillo |
| Children | 4 |
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 Colombian drug lord of the Medellín Cartel and a pioneer in the Miami-based cocaine drug trade and underworld during the 1970s and early 1980s. It has been estimated that she was responsible for up to 200 murders while transporting cocaine from Colombia to New York, Miami and Southern California.
Blanco was born in Cartagena, Colombia, on the country's north coast. She and her mother, Ana Lucía Restrepo, moved to Medellín when she was three years old. It didn't take long for Blanco to begin living a life of crime. Blanco's former lover Charles Cosby, recounted at the age of 11, Blanco allegedly kidnapped, attempted to ransom and eventually shot a child from an upscale flatland neighborhood near her own neighborhood. Blanco had become a pickpocket before she even turned 13. To escape the sexual assaults from her mother's boyfriend, Blanco ran away from home at the age of 14 and resorted to looting in Medellín, Colombia until the age of 20.
Blanco was a major figure in the history of the drug trade from Colombia to Miami, Florida, and other states 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. She fled to Colombia before she could be arrested, but returned to Miami in the late 1970s.
Blanco's return to the US from Colombia was the beginning of the Miami drug war. This violent conflict among cocaine traffickers was associated with the high crime epidemic that swept the City of Miami in the 1980s. Law enforcement's struggle put an end to the influx of cocaine into Miami led to the creation of CENTAC 26 (Central Tactical Unit), a joint operation between Miami-Dade Police Department and DEA anti-drug operation.
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