Pod Insights Serial Killers & Murderous Minds MURDEROUS MINDS: The Cocaine Godmother Pt. 1 About this episode She was a mother. A mogul. And a murderer. On this episode of "Killer Minds," we trace the brutal rise of Griselda Blanco, from a childhood of bloodshed and betrayal in Colombia to the early days of a drug empire that would soon dominate the streets of Miami. Before she became the "Cocaine Godmother," she learned to kill to survive.
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:01 Vanessa Richardson? Hi, everyone. Before today's episode, there's another show I want to tell you about. It's called What the Fact with Connor Tomlinson from Netflix's Love on the Spectrum and Carter Roy. Every week, they take three unbelievable true facts from history and tell you the full story behind them. Plus, Connor's infectious energy that'll make you realize history is the most fascinating thing on earth. Follow What the Fact wherever you listen, or subscribe on YouTube at What the Fact Pod.
0:36 Speaker 01 This is Crime House.
0:42 Vanessa Richardson? Some people love the hustle. They work second jobs or stay up late studying, all in the name of achieving their dreams and building a better future for themselves. But for others, the stakes are much higher. Griselda Blanco was one of those people. She lived in a dog-eat-dog world. If she didn't work hard, she could lose everything. So that's what she did. But Griselda had to do a lot more than pick up an extra job. By the 1970s, she was one of the biggest cartel leaders in the world, one who everyone feared, whether it was by her own hand or carried out by one of her devoted associates.
1:26 Vanessa Richardson? Wherever Griselda Blanco went, there was blood.
1:44 Vanessa Richardson? The human mind is powerful. It shapes how we think, feel, love, and hate. But sometimes it drives people to commit the unthinkable. This is Killer Minds, a Crime House original. I'm Vanessa Richardson.
1:59 Tristin Engels? And I'm Dr. Tristin Engels. Every Monday and Thursday, we uncover the darkest minds in history, analyzing what makes a killer.
2:07 Vanessa Richardson? Crime House is made possible by you. Please rate, review, and follow Killer Minds. To enhance your listening experience with ad-free early access to each two-part series and bonus content, subscribe to Crime House Plus on Apple Podcasts.
2:23 Vanessa Richardson? Before we get started, be advised this episode contains descriptions of violence and drug use. Listener discretion is advised. Today, we're starting our deep dive into Griselda Blanco, the most powerful and feared female drug lord to ever live. We'll begin with her brutal childhood in war-torn Colombia, to her reign atop the world of international drug trade. Griselda wasn't just ruthless, she was strategic, sadistic, and left a trail of bodies wherever she went.
2:56 Tristin Engels? And as Vanessa goes through the story, I'll be talking about things like the impact that witnessing wartime violence can have on a child, what happens when violent criminals are triggered by betrayal, and the link between survival instincts and killer instincts.
3:12 Vanessa Richardson? And as always, we'll be asking the question, what makes a killer?
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4:37 Vanessa Richardson? By the time Griselda Blanco was in her early 30s, she was a mother, a business innovator, and one of the richest, most ruthless drug lords in the world. But it had taken her a long time to reach the mountaintop. In fact, for most of her childhood, she had absolutely nothing: no money, stability, or anyone who cared if she lived or died. She was born on February 14, 1943, in Cartagena, Colombia, a bustling port city sharply divided by class. It was full of wealth and opportunity for those who were privileged, and soul-crushing conditions for poor families like Griselda's. It didn't help that by the time she was just three years old,
5:21 Vanessa Richardson? Griselda's father abandoned her and her mother, Anna Lucia, Anna for short. With no support system and nowhere else to turn, Griselda and her mom packed up the few belongings they had and moved to the bigger city of Medellin in hopes of finding a better life. But that better life never came. Anna had severe substance abuse issues, so she had a hard time finding work or providing any sort of stability. Instead, she and Griselda wound up living in a tent encampment. They had no electricity, and instead of running water, they had blood from the slaughterhouse up the hill, which ran down to their tent almost every day.
6:05 Vanessa Richardson? Since Anna couldn't afford to buy Griselda shoes, she had to walk barefoot through the puddles. So when a civil war broke out in Colombia two years later, in 1948, Griselda was already accustomed to bloodshed. During that time, the country's legal system all but fell apart, and crime rates went through the roof. Throughout the country, brutal murders occurred in broad daylight. Five-year-old Griselda witnessed her fair share; so did all the kids in her neighborhood. Violence was so commonplace, Griselda and her friends often came across dead bodies while they were playing outside. Whenever this happened, they simply paused their game to dig a shallow grave and toss the body in.
6:50 Tristin Engels? So what you're describing sounds like developmental trauma, and that occurs when a child repeatedly experiences adverse events like abuse, witnessing violence, or even having neglect that overwhelm their capacity to cope. Chronic or prolonged exposure to events like those shapes the developing brain and their personality over time. The amygdala, which is the area of the brain responsible for emotional regulation, impulse control, and threat assessment, can subsequently adapt accordingly for survival. And that can cause individuals to become more hypervigilant, distrustful, and reactive. Ultimately, the brain becomes wired to interpret the world as dangerous, threatening, or hostile,
7:32 Tristin Engels? even in situations when that's not necessarily the case. It can also shape a survival-based worldview in someone, and that is a fatalistic perspective focused primarily on distrust, overcoming adversity, and securing safety. As a result, relationships tend to be viewed as transactional. Violence or fear can become a tool for control, and risk-taking can be normalized. Based on what you described with Griselda's early childhood exposure and how that may affect her development, she likely learned from that that power, control, and fear were the only known currencies of survival.
8:09 Vanessa Richardson? How might seeing murders and dead bodies at such a young age affect someone's sense of right and wrong? And is it possible that that survival instinct you mentioned would take over and beat out any typical moral compass?
8:22 Tristin Engels? So in simplified terms, children tend to learn right and wrong based on what keeps them alive, based on survival. According to developmental psychologists, morality is heavily shaped by observation from their caregivers, their peers, and their immediate environment. So, for example, if you're seeing people around you fighting, stealing, or even murdering to survive, the brain can learn to prioritize safety over ethics or law. And that means lying, cheating, or even aggression might feel not just acceptable but necessary. And also, repeated exposure to violence can desensitize a child to it. Things that might shock or horrify people can start to feel routine.
9:07 Tristin Engels? And in some cases, empathy and guilt can be diminished as a result.
9:12 Vanessa Richardson? Death and violence seem to be the only constants in Griselda's life. And by the time she was 11 years old, she wasn't just witnessing violence, she was committing it. In Griselda's poverty-stricken neighborhood, people did whatever it took to survive. She was no exception. One day, when she and her friends found themselves desperate for cash, they hatched a plan. Guns were easy to come by in poorer parts of Medellin, even for kids. Griselda and her friends each got one. Then they headed to a wealthier part of town and kidnapped a 10-year-old boy. They demanded a ransom from his family in exchange for his safe return. But the family didn't take them seriously and refused to pay.
9:58 Vanessa Richardson? Allegedly, when Griselda learned they weren't getting the money, she made good on her threat and killed the boy.
10:05 Tristin Engels? So, let's break this down. Remember our earlier discussion? Griselda grew up in an environment of extreme poverty and normalized violence. And with that in mind, we can understand, at least in part, what drove her, even at 11, to kidnap a child for money. But the step from kidnapping to murder is harder to explain through survival alone. So, let's talk about how we can explain it. Firstly, she's 11 years old. Her brain was still developing critical regions, like the prefrontal cortex, which governs impulse control, planning, and weighing long-term consequences. Her ability to conduct a risk assessment or cost-benefit analysis, and her developing morality, or lack thereof, maybe, would have likely been distorted already.
10:49 Tristin Engels? So, let's remember, also from the earlier discussion, her survival worldview. Her decision to kill this boy could be an extension of that. In her environment, losing control over a situation can feel existentially threatening. So, given her heightened threat response because of chronic exposure to trauma and violence, it's possible that the family refusing to pay may have been somehow perceived as a threat to her safety, her authority, or her status, despite how distorted that is for most of us. Griselda was growing up in an environment where- Every decision felt like a matter of life or death. And she lacks a consistent role model to demonstrate or guide pro-social behavior or empathy. And notably, this is evidence also of conduct disorder and the emergence of callous and
11:34 Tristin Engels? emotional traits, which are precursors to antisocial personality disorder, especially without intervention. And when we consider the severity of this crime at this age, statistically, she is more likely than not to develop antisocial personality disorder or psychopathy without intervention.
11:53 Vanessa Richardson? And considering her childhood, would it have even been possible for Griselda to understand the weight of what she was doing? And when a child commits such a violent act, is there really any coming back from it, psychologically speaking?
12:06 Tristin Engels? So for the first part, the short answer is no, not in the way most would. In part because, like I said, she's still developing her prefrontal cortex, which is truly critical for cost-benefit analysis, decision-making, and judgment. But that's also combined with years of living in an environment defined by violence and scarcity. It's something that seemed normal and not disproportionate in her world. Now, as far as coming back from an act like this, it really depends on a few factors. Early interventions, consistent support, and therapeutic environments can certainly help to develop empathy, moral reasoning, and impulse control, especially if they were already underdeveloped in childhood.
12:47 Tristin Engels? But she has no support, no therapeutic environment, and because of her socioeconomic status, she likely has limited or even no access to any of these critical interventions. So rehabilitation for Griselda would certainly be a challenge, even in the right circumstances, but it's not impossible.
13:05 Vanessa Richardson? Well, if there was any hope for Griselda to turn a new leaf after this, it all went down the drain. She and her friends faced zero consequences, which gave her the opportunity to try new money-making schemes. Griselda figured if people weren't willing to pay to get their own children back, then she would just take their money instead. She began pickpocketing people on the streets and even counterfeiting cash. This kept her afloat for a while, but if there was one thing Griselda could count on in life, it was that nothing good ever lasted. Just as Griselda was perfecting her thievery, which alleys to lurk in and what kinds of people to target, her mother, Anna, announced that they were moving to another part of Merayin.
13:51 Vanessa Richardson? Anna made a living through sex work, and although the legal system was in disarray, sex work was still prosecuted in most areas. But there was one part of the city where it was legal, so Anna moved them there to try and earn more money. Unfortunately, things didn't work out that way. Once they were in a neighborhood with fewer rules, Anna started drinking heavily, which led to her becoming more and more physically abusive toward Griselda. After a while, Griselda couldn't take it anymore. She thought it was better to fend for herself than to let someone mistreat her, so she ran away from home. But once Griselda was out on her own, small-time thievery wasn't cutting it. At 13 years old,
14:36 Vanessa Richardson? the only other business Griselda knew how to break into was sex work.
14:42 Tristin Engels? Children who were forced or even voluntarily enter into sexualized roles like this often experience trauma responses like hypervigilance, dissociation, and poor personal boundaries. Griselda is being sexually exploited at a very young age, and even if she's willing, she's truly not old enough to consent or fully know the risks associated with this. And this kind of exploitation shapes identity and agency. Instead of learning that her body and her choices were her own, she could have internalized the idea that her value and survival were contingent on her ability to perform, manipulate, or even commodify herself. And when we consider what we've already discussed regarding her emerging worldview and her developmental trauma, this very likely reinforced that view,
15:27 Tristin Engels? particularly the belief that control, power, and manipulation are primary tools for survival.
15:32 Vanessa Richardson? Is it possible that Griselda turned to sex work out of a survival instinct? It sounds like she felt like it was safer than living with her abusive mother.
15:39 Tristin Engels? Absolutely possible and very likely the core reason. Research on children in high-risk environments show that when traditional sources of safety are absent, especially in the home, they often make decisions that prioritize immediate survival over long-term well-being or morality. And given her age and her lack of support system, she had very few viable options to escape that environment. On top of that, it's important to consider that she was emulating her mother, who was already working as a sex worker. From a developmental perspective, children's understanding of options and strategies for survival is often shaped by what they see and experience. So if her mother's path was the only framework she had seen for effectively securing
16:22 Tristin Engels? resources, resources that were constant and predictable, it would naturally emerge as an available choice, much how her severe poverty and desperation made kidnapping seem like an available choice at the time. She's likely seen this in her own environment. Griselda's choices, until this point, while harmful and certainly extreme, definitely were shaped by circumstances, early exposure, and limited cognitive and social resources. And this by no means excuses her behaviors or the behaviors and choices she will continue to make into adulthood, but it does explain how her early environment and trauma contributed to it.
17:02 Vanessa Richardson? Griselda didn't care about the risk she was putting herself in. As far as she was concerned, nowhere was safe. Rejecting a life of crime wouldn't save her, but embracing it would. And she was right. Pretty soon, a new life for her came knocking. One of Griselda's regular clients was a man in his twenties named Carlos Trujillo, who was deeply embedded in the criminal underworld. He was a known drug dealer, pimp, and human trafficker. Still, for being a hardened criminal, he had a soft spot for Griselda. Even though Carlos exploited others for a living, he chose not to take advantage of her. In fact, Carlos viewed Griselda as an asset, and he brought her into his marijuana business.
17:45 Tristin Engels? It sounds like Carlos was grooming Griselda and preying on her specifically because of her age and vulnerability.
17:53 Vanessa Richardson? And we don't know the details of Griselda's role within the operation, but we do know that she and Carlos smuggled weed from a farm in the Andes Mountains and distributed it throughout Colombia. And she was good at it. So good, she was making real money for the first time. Griselda finally saw a way out of poverty. She felt in control of her life. And soon, Griselda decided that she wanted to be more than Carlos's business partner. So did he. Before long, the two were an item. And when Griselda was about 15 years old, she found out she was pregnant. She and Carlos decided to get married and raise their child together. A few months later, their son Dixon entered the world. Griselda and Carlos seemed to enjoy family life.
18:38 Vanessa Richardson? Over the next few years, the pair had two more sons, Osvaldo and Uber. As they raised their family, they also grew their business. They'd gotten into drug smuggling at a perfect time, since Colombia was in such a volatile state. The couple got away with things they may not have during a more stable period. As a result, money was pouring in. Griselda had everything she lacked growing up: a family, steady income, and a sense of direction. But hard times soon came knocking. A few years into their marriage, Carlos became gravely ill and died. Griselda was now a widow.
19:18 Vanessa Richardson? Rumors swirled that she'd poisoned Carlos, perhaps to keep all their money for herself, but that's never been proven. The official story was that Carlos died of hepatitis. Whatever the case may be, his death didn't slow Griselda down. If anything, she took the opportunity to prove that she didn't need him to keep the business running. In fact, it thrived under her sole leadership. And Griselda's love life kept thriving too. Around the late 1960s, she started seeing a man named Alberto Bravo, a drug smuggler tied to the Medellin cartel. Their relationship quickly got serious, and when Griselda was in her mid-20s, she and Alberto moved to Queens, New York with her three sons.
20:03 Vanessa Richardson? Griselda was chasing her own version of the American dream. The weed market was booming in the US, thanks to the hippie movement. So she set up a route to move in product from her supplier in the Andes. She and Alberto's new business hit the ground running. So well, in fact, that Griselda quickly identified a new opportunity. Cocaine was popular in South America, but it wasn't widely used in the US... yet. Griselda knew that once Americans got a taste of Colombian cocaine, they'd be hooked. And she was going to be the one to hook them. Griselda's big plans were just getting started,
20:44 Vanessa Richardson? which meant she had yet to learn that criminal empires worked a lot differently in the US than in Colombia. Soon, she'd be wondering: was America the land of opportunity? Or was it a trap?
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24:07 Vanessa Richardson? In the late 1960s, marijuana smuggler Griselda Blanco moved with her new husband and three young sons to Queens, New York, with plans to expand into the cocaine industry. But before Griselda could sell the drugs, she had to find a way to smuggle it into the US without getting caught. So, she got creative. Griselda bought an undergarment manufacturing business in Colombia. The clothing was custom-designed to hide cocaine in secret compartments, molding the drugs to a woman's body in a way that looked totally natural under clothes. Each bra could allegedly hold a full kilogram of cocaine. That's just over two pounds.
24:50 Vanessa Richardson? Griselda hired sex workers as her drug mules. They wore the lingerie under their clothes and boarded commercial flights into the US. This was before the days of heavy airport security, though it was still pretty risky. But it was worth it because every kilo turned around about $10,000 in profit.
25:12 Tristin Engels? So there's a clear shift now from survival-based criminal activity into more calculated, risky and strategic criminal activity. And it's instrumental because she's hiring vulnerable women as her mules, which suggests that rather than seeing them as people, she saw them as tools for personal gain, even if they were consenting, which, if you recall, a survival-based worldview can result in viewing relationships as transactional. This behavior also suggests emotional detachment and an increasing pattern of callous and emotional traits, lack of remorse or empathy, and a willingness to manipulate or exploit others for personal gain. Over time, and certainly without intervention, this pattern is likely to turn into a persistent
25:55 Tristin Engels? antisocial one, where moral reasoning is secondary to her own self-interest, survival and pursuit of power.
26:01 Vanessa Richardson? So what kind of psyche or mentality does her high level of creativity suggest?
26:07 Tristin Engels? So she was someone who lived through a highly exploitative environment, as we know, and she learned from that how to exploit others in return. Children in environments like that often develop an acute ability to read people, anticipate their behavior and manipulate social dynamics, and skills that, in her case, she directed into her criminal innovation. She became highly flexible, adaptive and future-oriented. Research on psychopathy and antisocial behavior has shown that often a combination of callous and emotional traits and high intelligence or creativity can produce individuals who are not only willing to break rules, but capable of doing so in unusually effective and creative ways.
26:51 Tristin Engels? They can become chameleons and parasitic. They know how to alter behavior and present based on context or audience and achieve their goals by leveraging resources, labor or weaknesses of others for personal gain.
27:07 Vanessa Richardson? Every risk was worth it to Griselda because she finally had something that was hers. She'd gone from scrambling to get by to drug smuggler to the head of a burgeoning empire. But what she didn't realize was that her actions had raised alarms within the federal government. Investigators had been watching her, and according to their estimates, Griselda's syndicate was bringing more than $2.5 million worth of cocaine into New York every week. By October of 1974, 31-year-old Griselda was being investigated by the DEA alongside several of her associates. But even when she learned that she was a wanted woman, Griselda didn't slow down.
27:51 Vanessa Richardson? In fact, she kept finding new ways to smuggle in cocaine. She started using things other than lingerie to hide it in, like luggage carriers, speedboats, and on one occasion, a pet crate with a live dog inside. All these things may seem random, and maybe that was the point. Investigators never knew what to look for. Most of the time, it worked. If it didn't, Griselda's mules caught the charges, and they knew better than to name her as their boss. She felt more powerful than ever, and was convinced she'd never get caught, which is why it burned even more one day in 1975, when Griselda was completely blindsided.
28:34 Vanessa Richardson? About six months after being placed on the FBI's Most Wanted list, Griselda was busy overseeing the delivery of more than 300 pounds of cocaine. We don't know where exactly she was, or what kind of goods she was using to smuggle it in, but we do know that a horde of DEA agents and NYPD officers busted the whole thing. It doesn't seem like Griselda was actually at the scene, but the delivery was traced back to her. As a result, Griselda and 37 others were indicted by a grand jury on federal drug conspiracy charges. She was livid. Everything she'd built was at risk. To make matters worse, as Griselda frantically questioned how authorities
29:19 Vanessa Richardson? found them, she uncovered some devastating news. One of her longtime dealers had been informing on her, and some of her newer crew members had been undercover agents all along.
29:31 Tristin Engels? Griselda has been preying on the vulnerability of others, exploiting those vulnerabilities for personal and financial gain, but learning that she had been betrayed by people within her own enterprise, people that she trusted to some degree, put a spotlight on her own vulnerability. That is something that someone like her would view as dangerous. Vulnerability in her worldview isn't just uncomfortable, it's a liability that could threaten her survival and her power. Experiencing it firsthand likely heightened her vigilance or hypervigilance, her paranoia and mistrust, and pushing her to tighten control over her operations, increase her fear tactics, and enforce loyalty more aggressively, as well as anticipating
30:15 Tristin Engels? potential threats moving forward in the same way she could anticipate potential business prospects in the way others hadn't. So in other words, this exposure didn't make her weaker, though she may have felt like it had in the moment. In reality, it likely honed her capacity to manipulate, intimidate, and exploit even more effectively, turning a moment of personal risk into sharper, more calculated criminal behavior. Remember, again, she grew up in a survival mode with a survival worldview, and adapting is survival for her. And I believe this is no different.
30:47 Vanessa Richardson? Griselda's criminal origin story, if you can call it that, started with her going out on her own because she couldn't trust or really rely on her mother. So could this event have re-traumatized her on some level? And if so, how could someone like Griselda handle that kind of psychological distress?
31:03 Tristin Engels? Aside from reacting by adapting, it likely reinforced the idea that the only person she can trust or rely on truly is herself, and that any attachment to another person, whether it's personal or professional, could be a liability, particularly if they don't offer any utility that outweighs that risk. She still does need people to help her become powerful and maintain that power. But again, she's going to really look at the utility of each person. So I think it would also amplify her traits of callousness and her lack of empathy even more.
31:40 Vanessa Richardson? Griselda knew she had nowhere else to turn. Just like when she was a teenager, ready to flee from her mother rather than withstand her abuse, she made an escape plan. As soon as she learned about the indictment, Griselda stuffed all her cash into her bags, and then she, Alberto and the boys beelined it back to Colombia. Once they arrived, Griselda was ready to regroup and get her business back up and running. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be that easy. Colombia's drug game was a man's world, and most men didn't want to take orders from a woman. At first, Griselda cooperated and let Alberto take the lead, but by September of 1975,
32:21 Vanessa Richardson? a few months after returning to Colombia, 32-year-old Griselda was tired of the new order. To add to the humiliation, up-and-coming drug smugglers from Colombia were now using her roots to move their products into the States, including a young man named Pablo Escobar. Finally, Griselda's frustration turned to downright anger when one day, she noticed her cash was short by millions. In her mind, only one person could have taken it: Alberto himself. She was furious that her own husband would betray her, especially after the double-crossing that had just brought her down, and she wasn't going to waste a minute showing him and everyone else who was boss.
33:05 Vanessa Richardson? Griselda went to a nightclub in Bogota where her husband was. She stormed up to him and confronted him about the missing cash. Alberto denied everything, but Griselda wasn't buying it. She pulled out a pistol and fired multiple shots at him. Alberto managed to avoid being hit and found cover. Then, he pulled out an Uzi machine gun and fired back. A full-on gunfight ensued right there in the club. By the time Griselda and Alberto spent all their bullets, seven people were dead, including Alberto himself. Griselda, on the other hand, walked away with a single gunshot wound to the stomach, but made a full recovery.
33:48 Vanessa Richardson? With husband number two permanently out of the picture, Griselda's reputation was officially sealed. She became known as "The Black Widow."
34:00 Tristin Engels? So this might seem like a crime of passion on the surface because they are married and there were elements of anger and betrayal which seem to suggest it was emotionally motivated. But if we step back and look at her history, her patterns of behavior and her survival-driven mindset, there's strong evidence to suggest this was strategic rather than impulsive or emotional. She just moved back to Colombia to avoid criminal proceedings in the US and her husband Alberto took charge of her enterprise due to gender-based customs which completely undermined her power and her control. And because of that, at least in her mind, rivals started using her roots. That's a compromise to everything she built. And I believe that
34:44 Tristin Engels? this is likely where the planning started. Now, he was allegedly exploiting that position and preying upon her financially, which is something that would not be tolerable to someone like Griselda. When we consider all of this, this feels more like it was about reclaiming her control, protecting her assets and sending a clear signal to anyone who might challenge her. The decision to do this in the nightclub was intentional in sending that message. So while the scene may appear chaotic, impulsive and emotionally charged like a crime of passion, truly the underlying psychology, I feel, points to a strategic response by someone accustomed to risk and ruthless decision-making for her power.
35:25 Vanessa Richardson? So what do you make of the fact that Griselda did this when she didn't really even have proof that Alberto took the money? Do you think, what kind of psychological state might this suggest?
35:34 Tristin Engels? Yeah, so I think it wasn't just about that, like I mentioned, but I think what it does suggest is Griselda exists in a constant state of hypervigilance which was shaped by years of trauma and exposure to violence. With her threat response system always on high alert, she makes decisions quickly, often based on perception maybe rather than proof, because in her world, hesitation or even being wrong can be catastrophic and fatal. To someone like Griselda, suspicion can be just as powerful as evidence.
36:04 Vanessa Richardson? Well, if anyone still had doubts about whether or not Griselda belonged at the top of the drug game, Alberto's murder shut them down. It was clear that no one was safe from the bloodthirsty Griselda Blanco. No one knew this better than she did, but it didn't change the fact that she was still short millions of dollars. But that was nothing Griselda couldn't fix. Now that she had killer credit to her name, she wouldn't let anyone stand in her way again. Griselda was going to get back everything that was rightfully hers, one bullet at a time.
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37:18 Vanessa Richardson? Around 1975, 32-year-old Griselda Blanco was widowed for the second time. Unlike with her first husband, there was no doubt about whether Griselda had killed Alberto, and once he was out of the picture for good, she was ready to rebuild the drug empire she had lost. After certain members of her inner circle betrayed her in New York, Griselda cut ties with a lot of them, but she still had a trusted few working for her. And while most drug crews attached themselves to a larger cartel for protection, Griselda wouldn't settle for being second fiddle. She still used her connections with the cartels to launch her new operation, and it paid off, because she quickly began earning again.
38:03 Vanessa Richardson? But there was never any question of who was in charge, not even when a new man entered her life. His name was Dario Sepulveda, and he was also involved in the drug trade. Rumors about their relationship swirled. Some said one of Griselda's enemies hired Dario to kill her, but once they met, he refused to do it. Others said he first worked as her bodyguard. Either way, by 1976, Griselda and Dario were living together in Medellin, the same city where Griselda grew up. Except now, she was in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods there. Despite their lavish lifestyle, Griselda had no plans to stay in Medellin. There was too much competition,
38:47 Vanessa Richardson? and only so much money to be made. Griselda wanted a second chance at dominating her own territory. So she set her sights on Miami, Florida. There was a growing cocaine market there. She thought it could be a fresh start. In 1977, Griselda, Dario, and her three sons used forged documents to move there. The move was easy enough. The fake papers allowed her to evade the law, which was crucial. After all, Griselda was still wanted on drug conspiracy charges. But setting up her operation wouldn't be as easy as before, because all her old roots had been taken over. She would have to use a little more elbow grease this time.
39:30 Vanessa Richardson? Which was no problem for Griselda. She was always innovating. However, in Miami, it wouldn't be covert lingerie that set her business apart. Instead, she took a more visible approach to cutting down the competition. She hired a team of hitmen, and equipped them with motorcycles and sawed-off shotguns. Whenever Griselda needed an enemy taken down, a pair of her hitmen took to the streets. One was the driver, the other rode on the back, and he was the shooter. They would locate their target in broad daylight while surrounded by a crowd of people. The driver would speed toward the target, and once they were nearly face to face, the shooter would aim and fire.
40:15 Vanessa Richardson? This drive-by tactic created so much shock and chaos that bystanders hardly ever caught a glimpse of who had done it, but everyone in the drug trade knew Griselda was behind it. It was ruthless, not to mention it was a brand-new style of gang warfare. Griselda was already respected. Now she was feared.
40:38 Tristin Engels? This escalation, I think, reflects the pressure she felt not just in surviving, but asserting power in a male-dominated and violent world. As a woman in this environment, gender biases seem to contribute to attempts to undermine her control or power, or underestimate or sideline her entirely. So she sent another message, especially since it worked the first time when it came with Alberto. This message is to show her competition or threats, that she could operate with the same ruthlessness as any male counterpart, and crossing her came with deadly consequences. And her ruthlessness wasn't just about aggression, it was, again, a tool for dominance and reputation management.
41:19 Vanessa Richardson? Do you think that Griselda's need for power at this point has become sort of an obsession for her?
41:24 Tristin Engels? And it was also an overcompensation for feeling powerless for so long, particularly in her youth, with poverty, sexual exploitation, and lack of support. That kind of vulnerability likely fueled her intense drive to never feel powerless again. Power became a way to protect herself and assert respect in her criminal world.
41:46 Vanessa Richardson? Regardless of her deeper motives, Griselda was going to great lengths to prove herself in a deadly world. But the more power she gained, the more she seemed to lose control. By this point, she'd become a heavy drug user herself. Many believe that one of the reasons she was able to get into the US was because her drug use had changed her appearance so much. She looked completely different than when she lived in New York. There was likely some truth to that because Griselda wasn't exactly laying low. She and Dario often threw opulent, over-the-top parties at their many mansions and penthouses. These events were strictly by invitation only, as the couple largely kept the locations of their homes on the down-low.
42:30 Vanessa Richardson? For those lucky enough to get an invite, Griselda and Dario served up copious amounts of drugs and hired strippers and other sex workers. These parties likely fueled Griselda's drug dependence. She developed an addiction to something known as bazooka, which is a raw, smokable form of cocaine that's known to deliver an intense high. But once the effects wore off and everyone had gone home, Griselda often found herself alone. Sometimes Dario left for the night and the kids were elsewhere, and the feelings of loneliness consumed her. Griselda found it so unbearable to be alone that she allegedly paid female sex workers extra to stay with her for the night, just for basic company.
43:15 Tristin Engels? So I outlined how Griselda likely views interpersonal relationships as transactional, and I don't think this is any different. She's paying people for basic company. That's transactional. But she's choosing female sex workers, and I think this speaks to her comfort and safety being among them in comparison to anyone else. That could be because she was once one of them and identifies with them, but also her mother was a sex worker, and perhaps there is a connection there and why she feels comfort in their company or even safe with them. I also believe her unwillingness to spend time alone was less about loneliness and more about safety. Because to her, being alone meant vulnerability, fear, and discomfort.
43:56 Tristin Engels? It's not about intimacy or wanting genuine connection in the traditional sense. I think it's about managing these feelings of vulnerability and maintaining some psychological stability at the same time. It's also worth noting that her lifestyle is inherently lonely, especially when you never know who you can trust, who will betray you, steal from you, or worse, kill you. In that kind of environment, money is also a strong currency for an illusion of loyalty, not just companionship, but it's for her business as well.
44:30 Vanessa Richardson? Griselda's rumored inability to cope with loneliness would have been a huge weight for her to carry. Still, she pushed her feelings aside in the name of conducting business. When the sun came up and her insecurity subsided, Griselda regularly negotiated with kingpins over territory and often laid claim to the most lucrative markets. She even carved out new drug routes through Peru and Bolivia. She was likely pulling in as much as $80 million a month, which meant she had more than enough money to distract herself from her more troubling emotions, by shopping. She and Darío were living large. They bought designer clothes, luxury cars, mansions, and even a tea set that was once
45:15 Vanessa Richardson? owned by the Queen of England. Eventually, though, one thing did slow Griselda down, at least for a little while. In 1978, Griselda gave birth to her fourth son, and her and Darío's first. They named him Michael Corleone Blanco, after the main character from The Godfather, which was one of Griselda's favorite movies. In fact, she wanted to be known as "The Godmother." Just like the movie's main character, Griselda was all about money. After Michael was born, she got right back to running her empire. She had people killed if they stole from her, owed her money, disrespected her, or simply fell out of her favor.
45:58 Vanessa Richardson? Even just associating with the wrong people was enough for Griselda to put a hit out on someone. Things eventually got so extreme, the Miami coroner had to rent an extra refrigerated truck from a Burger King restaurant just to store the overflow of bodies. And at one point, nearly a quarter of all corpses coming through the morgue showed signs of automatic weapon wounds, a telltale sign of a drug-related killing. The Miami police were obviously catching on to the surge in violence. They knew that it was related to drug trafficking, but they didn't know who was at the center of it all.
46:36 Tristin Engels? So this is really showcasing how severe her emotional detachment truly is. Repeated exposure to violence, combined with her own active participation in it, can lead to developing callous, unemotional traits, which is a diminished capacity for empathy or guilt and a blunting of typical emotional responses. And I think arguably, we have seen this has been the case since she was quite young. When violence becomes routine, the brain can start to normalize extreme behavior, making shocking acts feel ordinary or routine. And I know we've talked about that. But for Griselda, each hit may have reinforced a sense of control and invulnerability, but it also separated her emotionally from the cost of her actions. Other people are doing this for her.
47:20 Tristin Engels? But the more she acted without any feeling or connection to those acts, the easier it became for her to continue doing.
47:28 Vanessa Richardson? So what do you make of Griselda's combination of numbness to violence and love of luxury? Those two things are so different. Is it fair to say that her sense of materialism is related to her lack of empathy or remorse?
47:41 Tristin Engels? I think it's more accurate to say that her lack of empathy and her pursuit of wealth may serve complementary functions, because one allows her to commit violence without any emotional connection or restraint, and the other rewards her with tangible symbols of dominance and safety. But I also think it's entirely plausible that the luxury, the materialism, the wealth that Griselda pursued served as justification for her actions. Any reward, like money, status, symbols, or these lavish lifestyles, can give meaning to otherwise morally and emotionally detached behavior for someone like Griselda.
48:18 Vanessa Richardson? Griselda watched from her high tower as the violence continued to spiral. But this was only the beginning. Soon, it would be all-out war.
48:42 Vanessa Richardson? Thanks so much for listening. Come back next time for the conclusion of our deep dive on Griselda Blanco.
48:48 Tristin Engels? Killer Minds is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on Instagram at Killer Minds. And don't forget to rate, review, and follow Killer Minds wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference.
49:08 Vanessa Richardson? And to enhance your listening experience, subscribe to Crime House Plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode of Killer Minds ad-free, along with early access to each thrilling two-part series and exciting Crime House bonus content.
49:24 Vanessa Richardson? Killer Minds is hosted by me, Vanessa Richardson, and Dr. Tristin Engels, and is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Killer Minds team: Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Lori Marinelli, Natalie Pritzowski, Sarah Kemp, Kate Murdock, Marky Lee, Sarah Bachelor, Hania Said, and Carrie Murphy. Thank you for listening.
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