GODMOTHER OF O THE UNDERWORLD

Building an empire on the blood of her family and foes, Griselda became the most feared woman in the world

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With chubby cheeks and thinning grey hair pulled severely back, Griselda Blanco Restrepo could have passed

for someone’s gran, but this “Cocaine Godmother” was more the stuff of nightmares than fairytales.

Her reign of terror over 20 years in Colombia, New York, and Miami left an estimated 200 people dead, including her three husbands and the many men who helped her build a $3 billion drug empire.

At one point, she was making more than $100 million a month smuggling and selling cocaine, and she was even rumoured to strike fear into the hearts of some of the most evil men in the world, including notorious Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, who killed an estimated 4000 people.

“The only man I was ever afraid of was a woman named Griselda Blanco,” Pablo once admitted.

POWER & PRECISION

Griselda was born into poverty in Colombia in 1943, proving at a tender age that she was willing to do anything to escape her lot by kidnapping and attempting to ransom a child from a wealthy family. When they refused to pay, 11-year-old Griselda shot the boy dead.