Griselda Blanco: Biography, Update, Sons, Kids, Husband, Actress & Facts

Griselda Blanco Restrepo (February 14, 1943 – September 3, 2012) was a Colombian drug lord who became one of the most powerful cocaine traffickers in the world during the 1970s and 1980s. Nicknamed “La Madrina” (The Godmother) and “The Black Widow,” she helped set up cocaine routes from Colombia to cities like Miami and New York. Blanco was connected to the Medellín Cartel and was said to have ordered hundreds of murders, including bombings and shootings during Miami’s violent “Cocaine Cowboy Wars.” At her peak, she reportedly made up to $80 million each month and introduced violent methods that changed the drug trade. She was arrested in 1985, spent 20 years in a U.S. prison, was deported to Colombia in 2004, and was killed in Medellín in 2012 at age 69.

Here is a quick overview of key facts about Griselda Blanco:

Griselda Blanco: Biography, Update

Griselda Blanco was born on February 14, 1943, in Cartagena, Colombia. When she was three, she and her mother, Ana Restrepo, moved to Medellín. She grew up in a poor and violent neighborhood, where she was exposed to crime from a young age. Reports say she started pickpocketing as a child and may have committed her first murder at age 11, though some details are unconfirmed. As a teenager, she was involved in theft and possibly prostitution to survive. At 14, she ran away from home to escape sexual abuse by her mother’s boyfriend.

In the 1960s, Blanco married Carlos Trujillo and began selling marijuana in Medellín. They had three sons: Dixon, Uber, and Osvaldo. After divorcing Trujillo (whom she later had killed over a business dispute), she married Alberto Bravo, a major cocaine smuggler. Together, they built a massive trafficking network, illegally entering the U.S. in the early 1970s with fake papers and settling in Queens, New York. By the mid-1970s, they were moving tons of cocaine into the U.S., earning millions monthly.

In 1975, Blanco and 30 others were charged with federal drug crimes. She escaped to Colombia but came back to the U.S. in the late 1970s and settled in Miami. Her return happened just as the Miami drug war of the 1980s began, leading to many violent turf battles. Blanco’s group was known for being ruthless. She is said to have ordered drive-by shootings, car bombs, and public killings. She also started using women as drug mules and was linked to many murders.

More…

In 1985, DEA agents arrested Blanco at her home in Miami. She was found guilty of federal drug charges and sentenced to 15 years in prison. While in prison, she faced murder charges in Florida but was not convicted because of legal problems, including a scandal with a key witness. In 1998, she pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder and got a 20-year sentence, served at the same time as her other sentence. In 2004, she was released early for health reasons and sent back to Colombia.

Blanco lived quietly in Medellín until September 3, 2012, when she was shot twice in the head outside a butcher shop by a gunman on a motorcycle, an assassination style she herself had used in Miami. She died at age 69.

As of 2026, people are still fascinated by Blanco’s life. The Netflix miniseries Griselda (2024), starring Sofía Vergara, was very popular and brought new attention to her story. Documentaries such as Cocaine Cowboys (2006) and Cocaine Cowboys 2 (2008) also remain popular. There have been no new books, films, or family news in 2025.

Sons

Griselda Blanco had four sons:

• Dixon Trujillo – oldest son with first husband Carlos Trujillo; killed in prison in the U.S. in the 1990s.
• Uber Trujillo – second son of Carlos Trujillo; also killed in prison in the 1990s.
• Osvaldo Trujillo – third son of Carlos Trujillo; murdered in Colombia in the 1990s.
• Michael Corleone Blanco – is Griselda’s youngest son, born in the U.S. to her third husband, Darío Sepúlveda. He was named after a character from The Godfather. Michael is the only son still alive. While Griselda was in prison, he was raised by his father’s mother. In 2012, he was convicted of cocaine trafficking and served time in prison. He later appeared on VH1’s Cartel Crew (2019) and started the clothing brand Pure Blanco. By 2026, Michael is in his 40s and has talked openly about his tough childhood and his mother’s legacy.

Kids

Griselda Blanco had four children, all sons, as listed above. She did not have any daughters. Her three older sons, Dixon, Uber, and Osvaldo, died in prison or from gang violence in the 1990s. Michael Corleone Blanco is her only surviving child. He has talked about growing up without his mother, who was in prison for most of his childhood, and how her criminal life affected him. As of 2026, Michael does not have any publicly known children.

Husband

Griselda Blanco had three husbands:

• Carlos Trujillo (married early 1960s – divorced mid-1960s) – her first husband; they had three sons (Dixon, Uber, Osvaldo). Blanco later had him executed over a business dispute.
• Alberto Bravo (married in the late 1960s – killed by Blanco in 1975) was her second husband and a key partner in cocaine trafficking. Together, they built a multi-million-dollar drug network in New York. After they argued over stolen money, Blanco shot and killed him in a clothing store in Bogotá.
• Darío Sepúlveda (married in the late 1970s – killed in 1983) was her third husband and the father of her youngest son, Michael Corleone Blanco. Sepúlveda left Blanco, went back to Colombia, and took Michael with him. Blanco is said to have arranged his killing to get her son back.

After Sepúlveda died, Blanco did not marry again.

Actress

Actresses have played Griselda Blanco in several films and TV shows:

• Catherine Zeta-Jones – in the Lifetime TV movie Cocaine Godmother (2017)
• Sofía Vergara – in the Netflix miniseries Griselda (2024), a six-part dramatisation of her life
• Luces Velásquez – in the Colombian TV series Pablo Escobar, The Drug Lord (2012) as a character inspired by Blanco (Graciela Rojas)

The 2024 Netflix series Griselda was very popular and brought new attention to her story. There have been no new portrayals or biopics announced for 2025 or 2026.