best for REAL LIFE
As Sofía Vergara brings one of the most notorious drug barons to life on the small screen, we ask who was the real Griselda Blanco and what happened to her?
Brutal, ballsy and ambitious – just a few of the ways you might describe Griselda Blanco, the inspiration for Netflix’s latest glossy hit show.
You might go on to add a coldblooded murderer, a questionable mother and, grudgingly, a damn good business-woman in a world dominated by men.
Fact and fiction blur in this sleek biopic, the reality of the real Griselda story is much harder to stomach.
Born in Colombia in 1943, Griselda grew up in Medellín against a backdrop of violence and chaos.
Unlike the statuesque Sofía Vergara (who spent two hours in hair and makeup being fitted with prosthetics to be camera ready), the real Griselda was only 5ft tall.
Poor and a woman – you could say there weren’t many professions open to her.
It’s alleged Blanco cut her teeth in crime at the age of just 11 with the kidnapping of a young boy and when her ransom plans didn’t work out, some have suggested Griselda had him murdered.
It’s also claimed that from an early age she was involved in pickpocketing and counterfeiting.
Her first husband, Carlos Trujillo, made a living as a forger. By the time she was 21 she had three sons – Dixon, Uber, and Osvaldo. The couple divorced in the late Sixties.
Trujillo died in the Seventies, but there are two theories for his demise. Some say he had health issues, others claim Blanco had him murdered ( just one of the ways she could’ve earned one of her chilling nicknames – The Black Widow).
It seems by 1971 Blanco and her second husband Alberto Bravo – a drug smuggler – had built a cocaine empire supplying New York.
The family returned to Colombia from the States in 1975, fleeing prosecution after she was indicted on federal drug charges. The story goes that back in Colombia, Blanco, in a fit of paranoia, accused her husband of embezzling millions from their shared enterprise, while Bravo pushed back with accusations that she had let her ‘Godmother’ nickname go to her head.
Their disagreement led to Bravo’s brutal murder in a confrontation at a Bogota nightclub car park, with Blanco reportedly shooting him in the head herself. The incident would leave Blanco with a gunshot wound to the stomach, sustained when Bravo drew his Uzi submachine gun on her.
Adding more fuel to her reputation as the Black Widow – she simply got rid of disappointing husbands.
In the TV series we see her arriving in Miami, a single mum who has smuggled a kilo of cocaine in her son’s suitcase to get her start
