In Netflix's "Griselda," Sofia Vergara plays the dramatic version of drug lord Griselda Blanco, a major player in the Miami cocaine trade in the 1970s and 1980s.
"We didn't want to romanticize her or make her a hero, because she's not," Vergara, who also serves as an executive producer, recently told Entertainment Tonight . "But no matter what anyone says, it's a very interesting character."
In fact, Blanco’s terrifying influence can be summed up in a quote from Pablo Escobar at the beginning of the series: “The only man I’m afraid of is a woman named Griselda Blanco. "
She ended up in jail on drug trafficking and three second-degree murder charges — although the attorney prosecuting her told the Miami Herald the true number of murders she ordered "must be in the dozens."
The so-called "cocaine godmother" was released from prison in 2004 and deported to Colombia. But just eight years later, she was murdered in Medellin.
violent parallel
According to the Miami Herald, Blanco had just purchased meat from a local butcher shop when a man on a motorcycle shot her. She was 69 years old and had a pregnant daughter-in-law by her side at the time.
Blanco's assassin remains unknown, but an eyewitness told the newspaper that the killer was middle-aged and appeared to be "a professional ... acting out of revenge for the past."
Former Miami homicide detective Nelson Andrew, who investigated Blanco, expressed similar skepticism. "When you kill as many people and hurt as many people as she did, it's only a matter of time before they find you and try to even the score," he told the Herald. The outlet noted that "motorcycle killer" style murders were reportedly one that Blanco himself popularized.
Telling Blanco’s story
Vergara is not the first to bring Blanco's story to the screen. Catherine Zeta-Jones played the drug lord in Lifetime's 2018 film Cocaine Godmother, and Blanco also received the documentary treatment in 2006's Cocaine Cowboys.
But even before Blanco's death, there was an interest in dramatizing her life. Mark Wahlberg revealed on his radio show months before he was murdered that a film adaptation of Cocaine Cowboy was coming, claiming Jennifer Lopez was "crazy after the [role]."
An independent project called Godmother was subsequently announced in 2019, with Lopez set to star and produce. "I have always been fascinated by the story of Griselda Blanco and jumped at the chance to play her on screen," Lopez said in a statement to Variety. The actor added that she was "eager to bring attention to this antihero." However, the status of the project is unclear as Lopez has not shared any updates on its progress.
