Griselda Blanco

Griselda was born in Cartagena on the country's north coast. She and her mother, Ana Black,[7] moved to Medellín when she was three years old. Upon arriving there, she adopted a criminal lifestyle. Blanco's former lover, Charles Cosby, recounted that at the age of 11, Blanco allegedly kidnapped, attempted to ransom and eventually shot a child from an upscale flatland neighborhood near her own neighborhood.[1][8][9] Blanco had become a pickpocket before she even turned 13. To escape the sexual assaults of her mother's boyfriend, Blanco ran away from home at the age of 19 and resorted to looting in Medellín until the age of 20.[1][8]

Blanco was a figure in the history of the drug trade from Colombia to Miami, New York and California.

In the mid-1970’s, Blanco illegally immigrated to the U.S. with fake passports, settling in Queens, New York. She established a sizable cocaine business there and in April 1975, Blanco was indicted on federal drug conspiracy charges along with 30 of her subordinates. She fled to Colombia before she could be arrested, but returned to the United States, settling in Miami in the late 1970’s.

Blanco's return to the U.S. from Colombia more or less coincided with the beginning of very public violent conflicts that involved hundreds of murders and killings yearly which were associated with the high crime epidemic that swept the City of Miami in the 1980s. Law enforcement's struggle to put an end to the influx of cocaine into Miami led to the creation of CENTAC 26 (Central Tactical Unit), a joint operation between Miami-Dade Police Department and DEA anti-drug operation.[10][11]

Blanco was involved in the drug-related violence known as the Miami Drug War or the Cocaine Cowboy Wars that plagued Miami in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. This was a time when cocaine was trafficked more than marijuana.[12] It was the lawless and corrupt atmosphere, that led to the gangsters being dubbed the "Cocaine Cowboys" for their violent way of doing business as the "Miami drug war".

The distribution network, which spanned the United States, brought in US$80,000,000 per month.[1] Her violent business style brought government scrutiny to South Florida, leading to the demise of the organization and the free-wheeling, high-profile Miami drug scene of those times.

In 1984, Blanco's willingness to use violence towards anyone who displeased her led her rivals to make repeated attempts to assassinate her. In an attempt to escape the hits that were called on her, she fled to California. Drug barons - men in Colombia - allowed her access to killers who she would then be given orders to tell the killers to murder a particular rival. But it was common for her to tell them that everyone who would happen to be in a dwelling where the target was located - was to be killed; in fact at times she demanded that any living entity (cats, dogs, goldfish, etc.) were to be slaughtered as well Thus, several innocent people (even children) would usually be killed along with the cartels intended victim - these ‘’extra’’ murders thus caused Miami to quickly become the murder capital of America for years in the running - which caused tourism and investment to wane in the city, along with South Florida in general.

On February 18, 1985 she was arrested by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in her home and charged her with conspiring to manufacture, import into the United States, and distribute cocaine. The case went to trial in federal court in New York City and Blanco was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years.[13]

While serving her federal prison sentence Blanco was charged with 3 counts of first-degree murder by the state of Florida. The prosecution made a deal with one of Blanco's most trusted hitmen, Jorge Ayala, who agreed to testify against her. However, the case collapsed due to technicalities relating to a phone sex scandal between Ayala and two female secretaries that worked in the state attorney’s office.[14] In 2002, Blanco suffered a heart attack while imprisoned.[15]

In 2004, Blanco was released from prison and deported to Medellín, Colombia.[1] Before her death in 2012, the last sighting of Blanco was in May 2007 at Bogotá Airport.[1]

On the night of September 3, 2012 Blanco died after being shot twice; once in the head and once in the shoulder by a motorcyclist in Medellín, Colombia.[16] She was shot at Cardiso butcher shop on the corner of 29th Street, after having bought $150 worth of meat; the middle-aged gunman climbed off the back of a motorbike outside the shop, entered, pulled out a gun, and shot Blanco two times before calmly walking back to his bike and disappearing into the city.[17] She was 69.[5]