Griselda Blanco's pattern of marriage was as notorious as her criminal endeavors. She had three spouses, each union ending in brutality or tragedy. Her initial husband was Carlos Trujillo, with whom she had three sons. That marriage lasted from 1960 to 1969. The second marriage to Alberto Bravo, a cocaine dealer, concluded in 1975 when Griselda killed him.
Her third spouse was Darío Sepúlveda, whom she wedded in 1978. Their relationship reached its culmination in Sepúlveda's assassination in 1983, orchestrated by Griselda following a child custody dispute over their son, Michael Corleone Blanco.
Griselda Blanco, famously known as the Black Widow, had a life that reflected the brutality of her criminal empire. Each time she ended a marriage, it was another chapter in her notorious involvement in the drug trade. Her criminal rule came to an end when she was apprehended in 1985 following the death of her husband. Although she received a 20-year prison sentence, she was released in 2004, only to meet her demise through assassination in 2012.
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Griselda Blanco's life of marriage and motherhood weaves a tale with three husbands, four sons, and a legacy dipped in violence
Carlos Trujillo was Griselda Blanco’s first husband. While their relationship is not well documented, it was significant to mark the beginning of Griselda’s path into criminal life. They had three sons, in this case, Dixon, Uber, and Osvaldo, who participated in her narcotic activities. But their lives were full of violence and tragedies like that in their mother’s life.
It is noted that all three sons were killed in Colombia, victims of the same drug violence their mother had initiated. Nevertheless, their union dissolved in a divorce, and it is said that Blanco masterminded the killing of Carlos Trujillo. This early relationship laid the foundation for the life of violence and crime that Blanco would continue to follow.
Blanco’s second husband was Alberto Bravo, and he played a crucial role in her rise to the top of the drug trafficking world. It was through Bravo that Griselda became deeply involved in the cocaine trade. At first, the couple built up their enterprise in New York City, smuggling cocaine into America. During this period, Blanco was known for her inventiveness and viciousness.
She came up with a unique line of lingerie with hidden areas for storing drugs making their operations more successful and profitable. Nonetheless, their affiliation concluded catastrophically. In 1975, suspecting Bravo of pilfering from their company and being disloyal, Blanco confronted him in a parking area in Colombia.
The confrontation transformed into a lethal shootout, with Griselda Blanco's husband getting murdered by her and several of his bodyguards. This event cemented her reputation as a merciless and formidable persona in the drug underworld. The third husband of Blanco was Darío Sepúlveda, and their relationship was no less turbulent than her previous ones.
Sepúlveda assisted Blanco in his criminal enterprises and had a son with him, Michael Corleone Blanco named after The Godfather character. However, their relationship took a violent turn when Sepúlveda left Blanco, went back to Colombia, and kidnapped the child during the custody battle. In revenge, Blanco had Sepúlveda killed in Colombia, thus ensuring her son's return to her in the United States.
Michael, the son of Darío Sepúlveda, had a problematic and eventful childhood due to his father's abduction and murder, as well as his mother's involvement in criminal activities. During Griselda's incarceration, Michael was raised by his maternal grandmother and legal guardians. Despite his challenges while growing up, Michael aimed to create a separation between himself and his family's criminal history.
He was featured on the 2018 episode of the Investigation Discovery documentary series Evil Lives Here. He was part of a VH1 docuseries called Cartel Crew that follows offspring whose parents are drug lords. Michael has a clothing brand, Pure Blanco, and he spoke about his attempts to be different from his mother’s life. Griselda Blanco and the lives of her family members were inseparably intertwined with a world of crime and violence.