Griselda Blanco, also known as the Cocaine Godmother or the Black Widow, was a Colombian drug boss who created one of the most profitable cartels in history before her assassination in 2012.
Today, a biographical series is set to drop onto Netflix, starring Sofia Vergara as the career criminal.
The drug baron, who was only five feet tall, was involved with pickpocketing and prostitution from a young age – but it didn’t take long before her crimes began to escalate as she rose to infamous prominence in the crime world.
Having been plunged into the cocaine industry by her second husband, who she later killed, Griselda built a thriving drugs empire that saw her earning more than a staggering $80million every month.
Michael Corleone Blanco, 45, her only remaining offspring, spoke to The Mirror about what it was like being raised by the notorious criminal and how his life has changed after quitting the cartel for the world of business, fashion and reality TV.
Michael Corleone Blanco, 45, Griselda’s only remaining offspring, spoke to The Mirror back in 2020 about what it was like being raised by the notorious criminal
He told the newspaper: ‘My mother was no saint. She had to survive to do her thing. But at the end of the day, she was my mother. I will forever honour and respect her. I love her’.
However, he also admits he ‘had no childhood’ and ‘lived the life of a teenage capo’, risking his life every time he left the house.
‘I was told, you’re a Blanco, part of that nobility. So when you drive, make sure you’ve got people in cars driving around you, driving behind you. And have your gun right under your thigh’.
Griselda had four sons but three of them, Osvaldo, Dixon and Uber, were murdered.
From the moment he was born, Michael was linked to drugs, having been given the middle name Corleone after the mafia family in the Godfather films.
As a child he survived seven assassination attempts, one of which resulted in his drug trafficker father and Griselda’s third husband, Dario Sepulveda, dying in his arms after their car was ambushed.
Griselda, who had grown up in a slum in the cocaine cartel city of Medellin, Colombia, went on to rule a $2billion empire stretching from the South American country to Miami, New York and California.
Michael (LEFT) said: ‘I wasn’t allowed to be a kid, I had to risk my life every single day I left the house for being a Blanco’
When Griselda was released from prison in 2004, two of her sons had been killed by rivals in Colombia, and Griselda was deported as an illegal U. S. immigrant. Pictured with Michael
Sofia Vergara’s Netflix series will follow Blanco’s rise as a drug trafficker from Colombia to Miami, where she was a key player in the Medellin Cartel amid the Cocaine Cowboy Wars in the 1980s
She grabbed power by being more inventive and even more ruthless than the drug lords emerging in the 1970s.
The queenpin kept order with a gold-plated submachine gun studded with emeralds, while netting $80million a month.
At one point, it is reported she and kingpin Pablo Escobar were ordering constant hits on each other. She is accused of being linked to 200 murders.
She was the first female criminal billionaire who held a reign of terror during Miami’s Cocaine Cowboys drug wars of the 1970s and ’80s.
Michael revealed that he had armed guards 24 hours a day, before his mother was jailed for 25 years for drug trafficking in the US in 1985.
While she was behind bars, he lived with family and guardians chosen by Griselda.
He conceded that he did enjoy a ‘lavish lifestyle’ and it ‘wasn’t all pain and suffering’.
When his mother was released after 10 years in prison, she was deported to Colombia where she is said to have ‘retired’ from her life of crime.
But it appeared her past caught up with her and, in 2012, Griselda was shot and killed as she stepped out of a butcher shop in Medellin aged 69.
As a child he survived seven assassination attempts, one of which resulted in his drug trafficker father and Griselda’s third husband, Dario Sepulveda, dying in his arms after their car was ambushed
The ‘Cocaine Godmother’ was imprisoned from 1985 to 2004 in connection with drug trafficking and murder, and was subsequently deported to Colombia in 2004
Michael decided to leave the trafficking life after the assassination of his mother and create a new kind of empire with his business partner and long time friend Michael “Majix” Yuen.
He had already begun the work with his mother to make legal money through ‘cartel culture’ before she died.
Now, he’s enjoying life as a ‘suburban’ dad with wife Marie Ramirez De Arellano and three children, while running his successful business.
Their billionaire cartel lifestyle brand, Pure Blanco, is described as focussing on, ‘fashion, film, music, cannabis and licensing of the Pure Blanco Brand’.
The website, which mainly sells clothing, accessories, reads: ‘We are a lifestyle brand made by bosses for bosses, so wear with pride’.
Paying homage to his mother, there is even a whole collection called ‘Boss Like Griselda,’ featuring t-shirts, socks and hoodies with the slogan.
And it’s not just the fashion business that the 45-year-old is now involved in – he’s also made a head first dive into the world of entertainment.
Michael also stars alongside his fiancee Marie Ramirex De Arellano in the US reality TV show Cartel Crew on VH1, which follows the lives of people with past connections to drug trafficking.
Michael revealed to The Mirror that he had armed guards 24 hours a day, before his mother was jailed, beginning her 25-year-sentence for drug trafficking in 1985
Griselda married multiple times and produced four children, the youngest of whom is now 45 -Michael Corleone Blanco
Griselda will be available to stream on Netflix from January 25
The show, which premiered in 2019, sees the sons and daughters of cartel members share a glimpse into their personal journeys as they try to overcome ghosts from their pasts and deal with family drama.
He also appeared in an episode of Evil Lies Here, called ‘The Last Blanco,’ in 2018 where he told his mother’s story through his own eyes.
Now, he’s releasing a new book, ‘My Mother, The Godmother, and the True Story of Michael Corleone Blanco, the Son of Griselda Blanco’.
Michael is set to share astonishing insights about the woman whose pioneering routes helped swamp the US with cocaine.
The first female criminal billionaire: Griselda Blanco
Known as the ‘Cocaine Godmother,’ Blanco created one of the most profitable drug cartels in history and is also said to be the first female criminal billionaire.
She was given the nickname Cocaine Godmother as she shipped drugs from Medellin to the US through Miami.
Born in Colombia in 1943, Griselda swiftly became a ruthless criminal who committed her first murder when she was only 11, and her victim was 10.
The criminal – who was forced into prostitution at age eight by her mother – first dipped her toe into drug dealing when she was living in Queens, New York and then moved to Miami.
Marrying multiple times, Griselda had four children, the youngest of whom she named after another notable movie gangster, Michael Corleone Blanco.
Griselda went to jail in the 80s for three murders, two of which were of drug dealers and one was of a two-year-old boy.
In 2004, La Madrina was set loose and deported to Colombia, and in 2012, a motorcyclist shot her dead outside a Medellin butcher shop aged 69.
Griselda’s story first gained the public’s fascination after it was featured on Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin’ With The Godmother in 2008, part of a documentary film series.
Blanco was previously played by Catherine Zeta-Jones in the 2018 Lifetime biopic Cocaine Godmother, which focused on her relationship with her female lover Carolina.
He revealed that he began taking notes to tell his family’s story back in 2006, getting information directly from his mother before she was ultimately assassinated in 2012 at the age of 69.
However, the career criminal’s son exclusively told DailyMail.com that he’s not happy with the new Netflix show.
Speaking about his anger and disappointment over the fact Sofia Vergara and her team refused his offer to consult on the project, Griselda’s son labeled the rejection a ‘slap in the face’ – and said they ‘wouldn’t have got away with it’ if his mother was still alive.
He also criticized the ‘disrespectful’ decision to transform Sofia’s superstar looks with facial prosthetics for her portrayal of his famous mother.