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After taking a leading role in Miami's cocaine wars. Griselda Blanco left Florida behind and went into hiding in Irvine, California. But only a year later, in 1985, the 42 year old was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison for cocaine trafficking. Even after Griselda was locked up, federal prosecutors weren't ready to walk away from the case, though they knew she'd ordered up to 200 killings back in Miami and were determined to hold her accountable for those crimes. But even life in jail wouldn't be much of a punishment for Griselda. Although the government had confiscated as many of her assets as they could find, they couldn't put a stop to Griselda's drug empire, which was still earning her as much as $50 million a year. She used that money to bribe guards and other inmates. Anything to ensure her prison experience was as comfortable as possible. Her visitors noticed that while the other prisoners all wore prison jumpsuits, Griselda was dressed in silk and red pumps with plenty of makeup. And in the late 1980s, as she neared 50 years old, Griselda got herself another accessory. A new boyfriend. His name was Charles Cosby, and he was a black 18 year old crack dealer from the streets of Oakland, California, just a few miles away from Griselda's prison. He'd heard stories about the fierce female drug lord who'd taken control of Miami. And when he learned that she'd been locked up nearby, he knew that he had to meet her. As it turned out, one of Charles's friends had been a drug mule for Griselda, and she put them in touch. He opened with a love letter. Part of it read, quote, godmother, I think you're the greatest queen to ever sit on the throne. I've admired you since I first heard of you. I appreciate you, and I salute you for being a real woman. A few days later, she called him from prison, because despite all the luxuries she'd been able to buy for herself, Griselda was still lonely. Soon, the two of them were talking every day, and before long, she invited him to come see her on visiting day. Griselda paid all the other women on her cell block a hundred dollars a piece to tell their loved ones not to come, ensuring that she and Charles would be the only ones in the visiting room. She also paid off the guards to leave them alone. When Charles arrived, they talked about their lives. She told him about the drug business, and they took advantage of the privacy to consummate their relationship. Then Griselda gave him a job. A few days after Their prison rendezvous, Charles received a delivery from one of Griselda's couriers. Over 100 pounds of Colombian cocaine. Before he met Griselda, Charles had been selling rocks of crack cocaine, a cheap street drug that was popular in low income communities. Griselda had just given him over 100 pounds of powder cocaine, which was much more expensive. This massive supply of high quality drugs made Charles one of the most successful drug dealers in his neighborhood. Almost overnight, and a couple weeks later, before he'd even finished selling the first batch, Griselda's employees delivered another £100 to his house. There was no way he could move this much product on his own. So with Griselda's coaching, he started hiring his friends to help him sell it. Within a month, at the age of just 18 years old, Charles Cosby had earned half a million dollars selling Griselda's cocaine. It was so much cash that Charles, who still lived with his mother, had trouble fitting it all in his bedroom. Before long, Griselda put him in charge of managing her entire drug empire while she was locked up. His job was to travel the country to meet with her lieutenants, then return to visit Griselda in prison. He'd give her status reports about her operation, and then they'd have sex in a supply closet the guards had set aside for them. Charles also transported large amounts of cocaine to her operations in different cities, taking home a 20% cut of the profits. Griselda's business and love life flourished for several years. But in 1995, 10 years into her 50th 15 year sentence, the law caught up with her again. That year, DEA agents arrested one of Griselda's longtime hitmen, Jorge Riverito Ayala, and threatened him with a life sentence unless he agreed to testify against 52 year old Griselda in court. Ayala agreed and told investigators about her involvement in multiple murders in the 1980s. Back in Miami, prosecutors used this information to indict Griselda on three counts of homicide, including the killing of her rival's two year old son. If convicted, she'd face the death penalty. But she'd cheated death before, and she was determined to do it again. So Griselda hatched a plan to secure her freedom. Calling going back to her childhood experience of kidnapping a rich boy for ransom. She ordered Charles to kidnap the adult son of a former president, John F. Kennedy Jr. According to Charles, Griselda believed that if they were able to kidnap JFK Jr. Who was a popular New York City socialite, they could convince the Government to set her free. Then, as soon as she arrived in Colombia, she would call the kidnappers and tell them to let their hostage go. This plan was a long shot at best, but Griselda had enough money and influence to try to make it happen. She gave Charles $100,000 and sent him to New York with four of her thugs to put the plan into motion. When they got to the city, Charles and the kidnappers bought a windowless white van as well as some nice clothes to blend in. Then they staked out Kennedy's neighborhood. Charles later told journalists that at one point, they'd spotted Kennedy and were about to jump out and throw him in their van. But they called it off when a police car drove by. After that, they didn't get another chance and eventually abandoned their mission. Griselda's operation continued to unravel from there. In 1998, shortly after the failed kidnapping, Charles was summoned to a federal court hearing in Miami. There, prosecutors working on Griselda's case presented him with evidence of his deep involvement with her cocaine operation. They told him that he could either testify against the godmother in court or spend decades in prison on drug trafficking charges. Charles had several meetings with the government's lawyers in Miami as he weighed his options. After one of these meetings, he was approached by a female secretary from the federal prosecutor's office. She smiled and pressed a note into his hand, then walked away. In the note, she told him she thought he was cute and asked if he wanted to meet up later. Charles had been offered one opportunity to betray him, his girlfriend. Now he had another. In the end, Charles wound up saying yes to both. Over the next six months, Charles helped prosecutors build a case against Griselda while also meeting up with his new girlfriend for sex after hours. And he wasn't the only witness she was interested in. The hitman who'd agreed to testify against Griselda, Jorge Riverito Ayala, had also been having phone sex with this secretary from his jail cell. And he was interested in another secretary in their office as well. The women would later tell reporters that he wooed them with love letters, gifts, and hand drawn sketches of flowers and Garfield the cat. This information came out in mid-1998, right? Right before the 55 year old Griselda's murder trial was set to begin. And it was a major bombshell. The fact that members of the prosecution were having sex with both of the key witnesses destroyed the government's case. It was such a blatant conflict of interest that the judge dismissed the entire case. Whether or not Griselda had anything to do with that, the result was the same. The godmother had cheated death once more. But it came at the cost of her relationship. She and Charles never spoke again. Even after the crushing loss in court, the authorities weren't ready to let such a notorious drug kingpin off the hook. Shortly after the murder case fell apart, a special prosecutor in Miami salvaged as as much evidence as possible and brought new charges against Griselda. Eventually, she pled guilty to lesser charges, three counts of second degree murder. These convictions didn't make her eligible for the death penalty, but they did add another 60 years to her sentence. After chasing her for more than two decades, prosecutors could rest easy knowing that Griseldo would spend the rest of her life in a cell, even if it was a comfortable one. But in 2002, just a few years into her extended sentence, 59 year old Griselda suffered a heart attack. Her recovery was slow and difficult, the result of a lifetime of regular cocaine abuse. Two years later, she was granted a compassionate release from prison on the condition that she left, leave the United States and never return. So in 2004, at 61, Griselda Blanco returned to Colombia, a free woman. When she landed in Colombia, everyone, including Griselda, expected her to be killed almost immediately. During her time as the cocaine godmother, she had made enemies all over the US And Colombia and. And it seemed like only a matter of time until one of them took revenge. But surprisingly, nobody did. At least not right away. So Griselda moved back to her hometown of Medellin, where she used some of her fortune to buy a villa and an exclusive gated community, complete with armed guards. Many of her new neighbors were high ranking judges, politicians, army officers and police. Police officials, an ironic twist for one of the most prolific cocaine traffickers of the 20th century. Over the next eight years, Griselda Blanco left the cocaine business, found God, and lived a quiet life in Medellin. When she left her compound, she walked the streets without bodyguards. But Griselda's quiet retirement in Medellin came to an end on September 3, 2012, when she was 69. On her way out of a local butcher shop, she was shot and killed by an assassin on a motorcycle. Her killer was never caught. To this day, we don't know who ordered the hit or why they waited eight years to do it. Griselda Blanco had climbed from the lowest rungs of society to the top. She'd become rich, famous, feared and respected. She lived much longer and more comfortably than many of her fellow dealers and kingpins. And she left behind an enduring legacy. Her youngest son, Michael Corleone, went into the family business after her death. Today he owns a legal marijuana brand. One of their most popular strains of weed is named Griselda. Coming up, another violent episode from the long running Latin American drug wars. We all love a legendary comeback and.
