Here's everything you need to know about Griselda Blanco and Pablo Escobar's relationship and whether the two major drug lords knew each other.
The Netflix series Griselda focuses on the Colombian drug lord, Griselda Blanco who ran a thriving cocaine smuggling business in Miami in the 1970s and 1980s. Viewers have been gripped by this shocking series and want to know what actually happened to Griselda, and what happened to Griselda Blanco's three husbands?
Fans want to know more about the real story behind this grizzly series and are wondering if the infamous female drug lord was acquainted with Pablo Escobar.
The series begins with a quote from Pablo Escobar that reads, "The only man I was ever afraid of was a woman named Griselda Blanco." So did Griselda Blanco and Pablo Escobar know each other? Here's what you need to know...
Did Griselda Blanco and Pablo Escobar know each other?
The quote, "The only man I was ever afraid of was a woman named Griselda Blanco," by Pablo Escobar implies that the two key cocaine drug lords were at least acquainted with one another if not close. The quote however is only alleged and the series doesn't explore how the two drug lords may have known one another.
Griselda was five years older than Escobar and Maxim reported, "When Escobar met Blanco in Miami in the late 1970s he was just a lowly car thief from Medellín looking for entrée into the business."
"She [Griselda Blanco] arrived as a teenager in Medellín's Antioquia neighbourhood," El Pais also reported, "In that suburb, Griselda began her cocaine business at a time when Escobar was just an apprentice smuggler."
It has been reported that when Griselda was at one point a member of the Medellin cartel and when she moved to Miami she still had business relations with Escobar's cartel. However, there are conflicting reports and the overlaps are unclear.
It is likely that as they were operating in the same business for decades, the pair were aware of each other, but never direct competitors or associates. As she was older than Escobar and running drugs years before him, it is likely that he was aware of the respect and fear she commanded.
It was also suggested that her name as the 'Godmother of Cocaine' may be related to Pablo Escobar's title as 'The Godfather' but also could be to do with the film The Godfather which inspired the name of one of Griselda Blanco's children.
Was Griselda Blanco in Narcos?
Griselda Blanco was not in Narcos, the TV show about Pablo Escobar's drug cartel. Speaking to Digital Spy, producer Eric Newman who worked on Griselda and Narcos explained, "She [Griselda Blanco] is a true anomaly in that there has never been a woman who achieved that level of prominence in any drug cartel. Ever." He added, "And obviously, that immediately piqued our interest.
"But we found with Narcos, the way we tell that story, what that show is about, to try to fit the Griselda story into Narcos just seems like it wouldn't do it justice," he said.
Eric also added that Sofia Vergara reached out to him about playing the part of Griselda which he said, "seemed like an irresistible opportunity to tell the Griselda story alone as its own thing." He said the stand-alone series would "do justice not only to her story but also to Sofia's spectacular performance as a result."
Although Griselda Blanco and Pablo Escobar may not have interacted much in life, per El Pais, the two are now buried in the same place at Jardines Montesacro Cemetery in Itagüi, Antioquia, Colombia.
