Colombia's 'Queen of Cocaine' shot to death
BOGOTA (AP) - Griselda Blanco, a convicted drug trafficker who was once known as the "Godmother" and the "Queen of Cocaine," has been shot to death by an unidentified gunman, police in Colombia said Tuesday.
Col. Mauricio Cartagena of Medellin's metropolitan police said Tuesday that the 69-year-old was killed at a butcher shop in the city on Monday.
Cartagena said a man approached Blanco at the shop and fired before escaping on a motorcycle driven by another man. She died on her way to the hospital.
He said the police hadn't identified a firm motive for the killing.
"We don't know why they killed her, but the first hypothesis would be revenge or a settling of accounts," Cartagena said, referring to her past involvement in drug trafficking. Blanco had no charges pending against her in her native Colombia, he added.
Blanco was among the first Colombian women to traffic cocaine to the United States in the 1970s and 1980s. She had been deported back to Colombia in 2004 after serving nearly 20 years behind bars in the United States for drug trafficking and three drug-related killings.
She served three concurrent sentence after pleading no contest in 1998 to second-degree murder charges. Authorities said Blanco arranged three contract killings in 1982 that took the lives of toddler Johnny Castro, 2, and drug dealers Alfredo and Grizel Lorenzo.
The child died when bullets meant for his father, Jesus Castro, hit the boy instead, police said. She already had been serving prison time for cocaine trafficking when she entered her plea in the killings.
U.S. authorities have described Blanco as a charter member of the "cocaine cowboys" who engaged in drug trafficking, contract killings and gangland shootouts in South Florida in the 1980s. She was also once known for her love of shopping and beauty salons.
Blanco was reportedly a fan of the film "The Godfather," naming one of her sons Michael Corleone, the name of the character played by Al Pacino in the film.
Col. Mauricio Cartagena of Medellin's metropolitan police said Tuesday that the 69-year-old was killed at a butcher shop in the city on Monday.
Cartagena said a man approached Blanco at the shop and fired before escaping on a motorcycle driven by another man. She died on her way to the hospital.
He said the police hadn't identified a firm motive for the killing.
"We don't know why they killed her, but the first hypothesis would be revenge or a settling of accounts," Cartagena said, referring to her past involvement in drug trafficking. Blanco had no charges pending against her in her native Colombia, he added.
Blanco was among the first Colombian women to traffic cocaine to the United States in the 1970s and 1980s. She had been deported back to Colombia in 2004 after serving nearly 20 years behind bars in the United States for drug trafficking and three drug-related killings.
She served three concurrent sentence after pleading no contest in 1998 to second-degree murder charges. Authorities said Blanco arranged three contract killings in 1982 that took the lives of toddler Johnny Castro, 2, and drug dealers Alfredo and Grizel Lorenzo.
The child died when bullets meant for his father, Jesus Castro, hit the boy instead, police said. She already had been serving prison time for cocaine trafficking when she entered her plea in the killings.
U.S. authorities have described Blanco as a charter member of the "cocaine cowboys" who engaged in drug trafficking, contract killings and gangland shootouts in South Florida in the 1980s. She was also once known for her love of shopping and beauty salons.
Blanco was reportedly a fan of the film "The Godfather," naming one of her sons Michael Corleone, the name of the character played by Al Pacino in the film.
As Nelson of Simpson's fame would say;Â Ha Haa!
She was once a fan of shopping and beauty salons. It's pretty apparent that beauty salons were not at the top of her priority list when that photo was taken...
Eeeeeeew!
The Black Widow. She killed 3 of her husbands. Surprised she lasted this long. She made a lot of drug cartel members very angry. She is responsible for hundreds of murders particularly in Florida. The DEA made a big deal about getting Pablo Escobar. He was just a middle man. He used to work for Blanco. The documentaries Cocaine Cowboys 1 and 2 are a couple of interesting documentaries on her and her cartel.
 @Blindman Thanks for the background, B.
That woman fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down....
Breaking News: She knew it was coming and so did most everybody else....
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Maybe she was shot because she's so ugly. Remember the Aerosmith song 'Dude looks like a lady"? I'd say that this is the reverse of that.
 @Magic 8 Ball No. The song was about her.
Good Riddance!! If there is an afterlife you will surely being taking the elevator down!!
That's a woman? lol
@the man I was thinking the same thing.
Good!
True justice was a longggggggggg time a comin' before it FINALLY caught up with this monstrous woman. Hope her ever-after life is a deservingly cruel one. I remember her reign back in the 80's drug scene. Glad she was finally put down, not soon enough IMHO.Â
 @alexcrowley She was as ruthless as it gets. I can't believe it took this long.
 @Yeah_and  Agree and it's ridiculous she wasn't taken down decades sooner than this. Her legacy was one of torture, killing and making millions off of coke. We can only hope she lived a very stressful life always looking over her shoulder, but she deserved much worse. Like I said, hope her after life she gets what she deserves.
 @alexcrowley I know way too much about this woman already. I was just watching a show about her AGAIN last week. I learned more early in LE..still, she had someone watching her back for a LOOOONG time, most of them she killed anyways, even though they gave her total loyalty. Makes me wonder who else became millionaires off of her dirty blood money.