Sofía Vergara stars as the protagonist in the latest Netflix miniseries titled Griselda, which vividly portrays the life of Griselda Blanco, the notorious Colombian narcotics trafficker known as the “Cocaine Godmother.” The acclaimed actress from Modern Family delivers a transformative and powerful performance as Blanco, and additionally holds the role of executive producer for the series.

Spanning the 1970s and 1980s, Griselda meticulously reconstructs Blanco's ascent to dominance in Miami, including the numerous fatalities that accompanied her rise. The following is an overview of Griselda Blanco's true story, which serves as the foundation for this highly anticipated television series. Challenging Childhood and First Marriage

Born on February 15, 1943, in Colombia, Griselda Blanco had a tumultuous upbringing. Her father abandoned the family, leading Blanco and her mother, who was a sex worker and struggled with alcoholism, to move to Medellín. There, Blanco faced severe abuse and lived in poverty, resorting to prostitution and petty theft from an early age, as noted by the Independent. A particularly notorious tale, as mentioned by Britannica, involves a young Blanco participating in a kidnapping at 11 years old and fatally shooting the victim when the ransom was not paid.

Blanco became involved with Carlos Trujillo, a forger and pimp, at the age of 13, eventually marrying him, as reported by Vice. The couple had three children—Dixon, Uber, and Osvaldo—and relocated to New York in 1964, where Blanco started dealing marijuana, according to the BBC. The marriage ended in the late 1960s, and Blanco is believed to have orchestrated Trujillo's murder in the early 1970s.

Sofía Vergara emphasizes the struggles Blanco faced early in her life: "She was an immigrant single-handedly raising three kids. She had no education or means of survival."

Subsequent Marriage and Drug Enterprise

After parting ways with Trujillo, Blanco married Alberto Bravo, a cocaine trafficker, per Vice. They launched a significant drug operation, using Bravo's clothing import business in New York as a façade. Blanco set up a lingerie factory in Colombia, ingeniously designing the garments for cocaine smuggling. The series Griselda highlights her creativity and her recruitment of female smugglers, under the belief that they would be less conspicuous. At the peak of their enterprise, Blanco and Bravo allegedly managed a network of around 1,500 dealers, while also collaborating with Pablo Escobar's Medellín Cartel, as reported by the Daily Mail.

Despite their flourishing business, the marriage soured, with Blanco suspecting Bravo of embezzlement. A deadly confrontation in Bogotá in 1975 led to Bravo's death and the demise of six bodyguards, as covered by The Telegraph. Blanco herself was wounded in the encounter, a detail that is explored in Griselda. Following Bravo's death, Blanco earned the moniker "the Black Widow," according to Biography.com. The Cocaine Cowboy Conflicts

Blanco, now a widow, relocated to Miami with her sons in the late 1970s, where she built her infamous empire, as stated by Britannica. She became notorious for her violence during the "Cocaine Cowboy" wars, marked by public shootings and extreme violence in Miami. In 2018, assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Schlessinger described Blanco to the Miami Herald as a remorseless sociopath.

Blanco's third marriage was to Dario Sepulveda in 1978, and together they had a son, Michael Corleone Blanco, named after Al Pacino's character in The Godfather. Blanco's operation was so successful that she reportedly made up to $80 million a month and refused a $15 million offer to relinquish her territory in the early 1980s, as per the BBC. Her family led a luxurious lifestyle, with Blanco often displaying her power through shocking acts, including hosting orgies, forcing people into sexual acts at gunpoint, and ordering multiple murders, as detailed by Vice. Blanco's drug consumption is believed to have contributed to her violent behavior. A tragic incident involved the accidental killing of a two-year-old boy, Johnny, during an attempt to assassinate former cartel member Jesus “Chucho” Castro, as reported by The Telegraph. Sepulveda's Demise and Blanco's Incarceration

Blanco's marriage to Sepulveda deteriorated due to the stress of their criminal activities. Sepulveda fled to Colombia in 1983, taking their son Michael, an act that marked him for assassination by Blanco, as noted by Vice. Blanco subsequently relocated to California in 1984 to escape her rivals. However, law enforcement was closing in, and DEA agent Bob Palumbo arrested her in 1985 after a decade-long pursuit. She was convicted of conspiracy to manufacture, import, and distribute cocaine, receiving a 15-year sentence, as Vice reports.

In 1994, Blanco faced charges of first-degree murder in Florida but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, second-degree murder. This was partly due to the involvement of her associate Jorge “Rivi” Ayala, a key figure in Griselda and a star witness in the government's case against her. However, the case collapsed when it was revealed that Ayala had engaged in inappropriate phone conversations with secretaries in the prosecutor's office. Blanco was sentenced to 20 years for the murders, to be served concurrently with her existing sentence. End of Life and Her Impact

Blanco was released from prison in 2004 and deported to Colombia, where she remained low-profile until her death in 2012, killed outside a butcher shop in Medellín by a motorcyclist, according to Britannica.

Blanco's three eldest sons, Dixon, Uber, and Osvaldo, followed in their mother's footsteps into drug trafficking and died before her, with their exact circumstances of death remaining unknown, as Distractify reports. Her youngest son, Michael, is still alive and recently filed a lawsuit against Netflix and Vergara regarding Griselda, as per Entertainment Tonight.

The Netflix miniseries delves into Blanco's life, showcasing Vergara's portrayal of the drug lord's complexity as a mother, lover, and killer. "This role was compelling to me," Vergara told the BBC, "because Griselda embodies so many facets of human nature."