Griselda Blanco: The Godmother of Cocaine 

Mugshot of Griselda Blanco in 1997

Griselda Blanco Restrepo, known by chilling aliases such as the Cocaine Godmother, the Black Widow, and La Madrina, was one of the most ruthless and powerful drug lords in history. As a key figure in the Medellín Cartel, she dominated the underworld and orchestrated a multi-billion dollar empire that forever changed the landscape of organized crime.

1. Early Life and Rise to Power

Born on February 15, 1943, in Colombia, Griselda’s early life was mired in extreme poverty and abuse. Driven by survival, she turned to a life of petty crime at a very young age. By the mid-1970s, she entered the emerging illegal drug trade, quickly demonstrating a natural, cold-blooded talent for logistics and criminal strategy. She eventually became an integral authority within the notorious Medellín Cartel.

2. Building the Empire & The Miami Drug Wars

Griselda revolutionized the way drugs were smuggled into the United States, targeting major hubs like New York City, Southern California, and Miami.

• Fleeing the Law: In April 1975, she was indicted on federal drug conspiracy charges. To evade arrest, she fled the U.S. and returned to Colombia.

• The Return to Miami: By the late 1970s, she sneaked back into the United States under a false identity, settling in Miami.

• Reign of Terror: During the 1980s, she masterminded the bloody "Cocaine Cowboy Wars" in Miami. To eliminate her competitors and maintain total control, she ordered a staggering number of executions. It is estimated that she was responsible for nearly 2,000 murders. She popularized the infamous "motorcycle drive-by" hit method, where gunmen on bikes would shoot targets and speed away before police could react.

3. The World’s First Billionaire Female Criminal

Griselda broke barriers in the criminal underworld by becoming the first-ever female billionaire criminal. At the peak of her power, her network smuggled tons of cocaine into the U.S. every month, generating tens of millions of dollars weekly. She earned the nickname "Black Widow" due to widespread allegations that she ordered the assassinations of all three of her husbands after financial and personal disputes.

4. Arrest, Conviction, and Deportation

As her violence grew too loud to ignore, law enforcement agencies launched massive crackdowns to bring her down.

• The Arrest: On February 18, 1985, federal agents finally tracked her down and arrested her in her home.

• Imprisonment: She was sentenced to decades in prison for drug trafficking and murder. Remarkably, she continued to manage parts of her empire from behind bars for several years before losing her grip on power.

• Deportation: In 2004, after completing her prison sentence, she was released and immediately deported back to Colombia.

5. Retirement and Poetic Justice

Upon her return to Colombia, Griselda reportedly retired from her life of high-profile crime, trying to live a quiet life in Medellín. However, a woman with her past could never truly escape the enemies she made along the way.

• Assassination (September 3, 2012): At the age of 69, while walking out of a local butcher shop in Medellín, Griselda was confronted by a gunman on a motorcycle. He shot her twice, killing her instantly.

In a twist of poetic justice, the woman who had invented and popularized the motorcycle drive-by execution method met her own end by the exact same brutal tactic.