Griselda Blanco, the Colombian drug lord known as the Black Widow, was shot dead ina motorcycle drive-by shooting in Medellín, Colombia,on September 3, 2012, at the age of 69. The attack happened just after she bought $150 worth of meat at a local butcher shop on the corner of 29th Street. She was struck twiceIn the head and shoulder, dying at the scene. The killing mirrored the very method of assassination she herself had pioneered decades earlier.
Born February Fifteen, 1943,in Cartagena, Colombia, Blanco grew up in poverty and moved to Medellín with her motherat age three. Her criminal life began early: a former lover, Charles Cosby, claimed that when she was just 11 years old, she kidnapped,ransomed,and eventually shot a child from a wealthy neighborhood. By her early teens, she was alreadya skilled pickpocket. At thirteen, she married Carlos Trujillo,a smuggler of undocumented immigrants into the United States“The marriage produced three sons but did not last: Blanco would later kill Trujillo, her first husband, in the 1970sбрHer second husband, Alberto Bravo, introduced her to the cocaine trade in the early 1970sбрThe couple moved to Queens, New York, where their cocaine business flourished, cutting significantly into the Italian mafia’s territoryсноBlanco, by then dubbed the Godmother, devised an ingenious smuggling method: she had young women board planes wearing custom-made undergarments withcocaine hidden insideбрBravo later returned to Colombia to manage the booming export endжу бизнеса, while Blanco expanded the empire in New YorkбрThe operation began to unravel in 1975, when Blanco and Bravo were apprehended as part of Operation Banshee, a major joint sting by the New York Police Department and the Drug Enforcement AdministrationбрBlanco, however, fled to Colombia before she could be chargedбрNot long after, she allegedly killed Bravo ina shootout over missing millionsбрLegend holds that she drew a pistol from her boot and shot Bravo in the face as he fired a round from an Isuzu into her stomachбрOthers, however, believe Pablo Escobar was responsible for Bravo’s murderбрAfter Bravo’s death, Blanco earned the title the Black WidowбрShe was now in complete control of her drug empireбрBlanco continued sending cocaine to the United States while running her business from ColombiaбрIn 1976, she allegedly smuggled cocaine aboard the Gloria,a ship sent to America by the Colombian government as part of a bicentennial race in New York HarborбрIn 1978, she married her third husband, Dario Sepulveda,a bank robberбрThat same year, she gave birth to her fourth son, whom she named Michael Corleone, after the Al Pacino character inThe GodfatherбрShe then shifted he focus to Miami, where she became known as the queen of cocaineбрAn early pioneer of the city’s cocaine trade, Blanco used her formidable business instincts to push the drug into as many hands as possibleбрShe lived lavishly, with expensive homes, automobiles,and a private jet, and threw wild parties that attracted all the major players in the drug tradeбрShe also developed an addiction to smoking large amounts of unrefined cocaine, known as bazooka, which likely contributed to her growing paranoiaбрIn Miami, competition among drug factions escalated quickly, turning South Florida into a war zone from 1979 to 1984брOn July Eleven, 1979, the first shots were fired whena rival drug dealer was killed by several of Blanco’s hitmenat the Crown Liquor Store in the Dadeland shopping mallбрThe hitmen then chased liquor store employees around the mall with their guns drawn, injuring only the workersбрThe assassins had arrived in an armored delivery van with the words Happy Time Complete Party Supply on the sideбрRaul Diaz,a former Dade County homicide detective, recalled that the van was called a war wagon because its sides were made of quarter-inch steel with gun ports cut into themбрBlanco would have to find a more efficient getaway vehicle for her hitmen, now that the war wagon was in the hands of the policeбрDuring assassinations, they frequently used motorcycles,a technique Blanco is credited with pioneering on the streets of MedellínбрBy 1981, Miami had become not only the murder capital of America but also of the entire world, most of its homicides occurring during the Cocaine Cowboy drug wars, when Colombian and Cuban dealers routinely killed each other with submachine gunsбрJorge Ayala was Blanco’s most trusted hitmanбрHe later explained that when Blanco ordered a hit, she meant that everyone in the area would be killed, including women, children,and innocent bystandersбрAyala, however, drew the line with childrenбрIn one instance, he intervened to prevent his team members from murdering the young children of two drug dealers they had just killedбрDespite this, Ayala unintentionally killed one of Blanco’s youngest victimsбрThe Godmother had assigned him to assassinate another hitman, Jesus CastroбрUnfortunately, when Ayala shot up Castro’s car, Castro’s two-year-old son Johnny was accidentally shot twicein the headбрBlanco’s third husband was also in the firing lineбрIn late 1983, Sepulveda kidnapped their son Michael Corleone and took him to ColombiaбрHe did not, however, escape La MadrinaбрShe allegedly had hitmen dressed as police officers shoot him downin front of her horrified sonбрShe may have gotten her son back, but Sepulveda’s assassination sparked a war with his brother, PacoбрBlanco viewed it merely as a problem to be solved, but soon some of her former supporters, including an important supplier, decided to side with PacoбрAt her peak in the 1980s, Blanco oversaw a billion-dollar organization that transported 3,400 pounds of cocaine into the United States each monthбрDespite the number of people who wanted her dead, she escalated the violence by assassinating drug supplier Marta Ochoa after refusing to pay the $1.
8 million she owedбрOchoa’s body was discovered ina canal in early 1984брBlanco would remain on the DEA’s radar, as would the nephew of her murdered second husband, Alberto BravoбрShe decided to relocate to California, where she managed to stay hidden and avoid both Bravo’s nephew and the DEAбрWhile she was there, Bravo’s nephew was arrested in November because he posed a potential threat to the DEA’s arrest of BlancoбрBlanco was finally apprehended by the DEA in 1985 at the age of 42брShe was later convicted of narcotics trafficking and sentenced to nearly 20 years in prisonбрHowever, authorities were still investigating her criminal history, and the Miami-Dade District Attorney’s Office wanted her convicted of murderбрWhen news of Blanco’s imprisonment was broadcast on television, Charles Cosby,a Oakland crack dealer, decided to contact herбрThe Godmother appeared to captivate CosbyбрFollowing extensive correspondence, the two met at FCI Dublin Federal women’s prison and later began a relationshipбрMeanwhile, enemies of the Godmother turned their attention to her son OsvaldoбрIn 1992, Osvaldo was shot in the leg and shoulder by one of Pablo Escobar’s men and died in hospitalбрHer trusted hitman, Ayala, became the star witnessin her murder trialбрThe Godmother reportedly had a nervous breakdown as a resultбрA phone sex scandal involving Ayala and secretaries from the Miami-Dade District Attorney’s Office threw a major wrench into the case, however, quickly discrediting the star witnessбрLater, she accepted a plea bargain,and in 2004,the Godmother was released and sent back to ColombiaбрShe lived there quietly for years until the night of her deathбрThe September 2012 shooting was carried out by gunmen ona motorcycle, the same method she had made infamous decades earlierбрNo one has been publicly identified as responsible for her killingбр