Griselda Blanco 'ordered murder of husband Carlos Trujillo in business dispute'

30 January 2024 , 13:47

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Griselda Blanco was also nicknamed Black Widow

Griselda Blanco allegedly ordered the murder of her first husband Carlos Trujillo over a business dispute.

The rise and fall of the Colombian drug cartel boss is the focus of a new six-part series on Netflix, starring Sofia Vergara as Griselda who became known as The Godmother of Miami’s violent drug empire in the 1970s and 1980s. The fearless crime boss was also known as the Black Widow, after it was alleged all three of her husbands had been killed, and she was responsible for at least two of the assassinations.

Griselda became a sex worker and pickpocket by the age of 12, and when she was 13 she met her first husband, street hustler Carlos Trujillo in Medellín, Colombia. He was a document forger and small-time criminal - and allegedly worked as a pimp. The couple wed shortly after meeting and Griselda and Carlos had three sons together - Osvaldo, Dixon and Uber. They reportedly moved from Colombia to New York in the 1960s using fake passports, and started a dodgy business selling fake IDs before dabbling in petty drug dealing.

READ MORE: Griselda Blanco's grisly death explained as Cocaine Godmother's story becomes Netflix hit

Griselda's rise and fall is the focus of a new Netflix series (Florida Department of Corrections)

The crime boss was also nicknamed Black Widow (Orange County Sherriff)

Carlos isn’t featured in the Netflix series, as the show begins as Griselda is fleeing Colombia following the death of her second husband Alberto Bravo. But the crime boss didn’t earn the nickname of Black Widow for simply divorcing her husbands, and it was reported she had Carlos killed after a “business dispute” in the 1970s. She was never charged with the crime, although it was claimed Carlos was bumped off by a hitman after divorcing Griselda, leaving many to speculate his death was linked to a drug deal gone sour.

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Griselda met Alberto Bravo shortly after her first husband’s death, and the couple built their violent drug empire together in New York. In the Netflix series, it is suggested that Griselda killed her husband after he told her to sleep with his brother to pay off a drug debt. However, in real-life, Griselda suspected Alberto was stealing millions in drug profits, and ended up killing him during a parking lot shoot-out in Bogota.

Sofia has won rave reviews for her role in Griselda

While Alberto turned up to the altercation brandishing a machine gun, he only managed to shoot his wife in the stomach, leaving her with non-life-threatening injuries. However, Griselda fatally shot her husband in the face, killing him almost instantly, and also finished off his associates during the violent parking lot gunfight.

Her third and final husband was Dario Sepulveda, who is a major character in the Netflix series. She began a relationship with him shortly after the murder of Alberto, and they share Griselda’s only surviving son, Michael Corleone Blanco. Their turbulent relationship ended with a bitter split in the early 1980s, and Dario returned to Colombia with their son. However, Griselda had reportedly hired a hitman to kill her husband, and he was assassinated by men dressed as police officers in front of their five-year-old son Michael in 1983.

Emma Wilson