'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Griselda Blanco was a Colombian cocaine boss and the head of a massive drug empire in the 1970s and 1980s. With an opulent lifestyle, four young sons, a stronghold on Miami's cocaine trade, and the fear and admiration of rivals, she had it all. However, later on, she became addicted to basuco, a highly addictive form of cocaine.
Former DEA agent Bob Palombo, who assisted in taking down Blanco, said to A&E True Crime:
"The bazooka, coupled with her homicidal tendencies and increasing paranoia, meant she was bad for business."
At what point in her life did Griselda Blanco become a cocaine addict?
Griselda Blanco's real-life story is not for the faint of heart. The Netflix series follows Blanco's life from her struggle to exist in Colombia to her rise to fame as one of Miami's most powerful and wealthy drug lords.
Medellin was the hub of the cocaine trade and was regarded as the world's most dangerous city. However, Blanco began with petty crimes like looting and smuggling (not cocaine), according to Pobutsky, a professor at Oakland University and author of Pablo Escobar and Colombian Narcoculture (via A&E True Crime).
When Blanco met her second husband, Albert Bravo, a drug trafficker, her first venture into serious crime began. They moved to New York and started smuggling cocaine. She used many resources to "keep the cocaine pipeline full", according to DEA agent Steve Georges (via Sun-Sentinel).
An indiction of the couple led them to flee to Columbia where she killed Bravo and got complete control of the drug enterprise, earning the nickname "Black Widow". In the latter part of the 1970s, Blanco came back to the United States to start a new operation in Miami.
The explosion of the cocaine trade led to the '80s cocaine era, with Blanco being largely responsible for it. Her monthly income amounted to $80 million, resulting in a lavish lifestyle, with multiple residences, a private plane, and a collection of high-end cars. Other powerful figures in the drug trade frequented the hedonistic events she threw.
As per Palombo, she developed an addiction to basuco, a very addictive raw form of smokeable cocaine, which led to extreme paranoia because of which she had a private Learjet crewed and fueled on standby at all times.
Did Griselda Blanco die from her cocaine addiction?
According to Bob Palombo, the former DEA agent, her bazooka addiction, growing paranoia, and homicidal thoughts had made Griselda Blanco a liability to the business. The other drug kingpins started to target her, and fearing for her life, she had to move to California.
Blanco received a 15-year prison sentence after being found guilty. She reached an agreement and admitted guilt to three counts of second-degree murder, receiving three consecutive 20-year sentences. Nevertheless, Blanco was deported to Medellín and freed in 2004 because of health problems.
Blanco died on September 3, 2012, in Colombia, after a short peaceful period before that (via TODAY).
An unidentified assassin riding a motorcycle approached Blanco as she was leaving a butcher shop in Medellín, shooting her in the same manner for which she was notorious during her criminal past in Miami.
Other habits of Griselda Blanco
As per Pobutsky, Blanco's first murder was at the age of 11. In the male-dominated Narco's underworld of the 1970s and 1980s, she became a formidable opponent to match her male counterparts. She created a deadly battleground in Miami's streets, the "Cocaine Cowboy Wars."
Her gang frequently executed her orders in "war wagons," which are strongly fortified vans with gun apertures carved into the sides, and on motorcycles. Pobutsky, in his interview with A&E True Crime, said:
"Blanco turned out to be tough and vicious, and she really used her viciousness to measure up to the men. She did horrible stuff: decapitations, cutting people into pieces, throwing them on the side of the road. Drug kingpins and their associates were afraid of her precisely because of her toughness."
In 2012, Blanco's prosecutor, former assistant U.S. attorney Stephen Schlessinger, told the Miami Herald that he "dare ventured to guess how many murders she ordered."
Catch up on Sofia Vergara chronicling the real life of the drug lord Griselda Blanco in the American crime miniseries, Griselda, which premiered on January 25 on Netflix.
