Netflix’s latest limited series explores the rise to drug lord supremacy of Griselda Blanco – but how did she die?
Starring the likes of Sofia Vergara, limited series Griselda follows the life and rise of Griselda Blanco, known as the “Godmother of Cocaine” in Miami in the 1980s.
Doing exactly what Netflix does best, the six episodes turn a real-life story into bite-sized palatable drama, bursting with action and violence.
As the title suggests, the narrative takes a lot of inspiration from reality – but how did Griselda Blanco die? Here’s everything we know.
How did Griselda Blanco die?
Griselda Blanco died on September 3, 2012, after sustaining two gunshots fired by an unknown assailant on a motorcycle.
On September 3, 2012, Blanco – who was 69 years old – and her pregnant daughter-in-law bought $150 worth of meat at the Cardiso butcher shop on the corner of 29th Street in Medellín. As she exited, an assassin on a motorcycle shot her twice, killing her.
Allegedly, the drive-by motorcycle shooting mimicked the same assassination style Blanco was often credited with introducing in Miami during her prime.
Speaking of her death shortly after her murder, Professor Bruce Bagley, author of the book Drug Trafficking, stated [via The Guardian]: “It’s some kind of poetic justice that she met an end that she delivered to so many others. 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.”
As the Netflix series highlights, Griselda Blanco was best known for heading up southern Florida’s cocaine trade in the late 1980s, earning billions of dollars before being convicted of three murders – including a two-year-old boy. Though nothing was ever officially confirmed, detectives suspected her of as many as 200 more.
She was found guilty in 1985 for conspiring to manufacture, import, and distribute cocaine, she received the maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Blanco reportedly continued to run her empire while serving time. She was later charged with three counts of first-degree murder during her original sentence.
Griselda Blanco ended up being deported from the U.S. in 2004 after serving the best part of 20 years in prison for both murder and racketeering. She was last publicly seen in 2007 at Bogotá Airport.
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