Family of ‘cocaine godmother’ accuses Netflix of stealing her blood-spattered life story

THE family of an infamous female drug cartel leader are trying to block an upcoming Netflix dramatisation of her life starring Sofía Vergara over its use of “unauthorised” personal information.

Griselda Blanco, called the “cocaine godmother” and also the “Black Widow”, over her alleged penchant for killing lovers, rose from the backstreets of Medellin, Colombia in the 1970s, to control much of the cocaine that flowed into New York and Miami in the 1990s.

Now Vergara, Hollywood’s most prominent Colombian actress, is starring in an eponymous Netflix series, Griselda, due out this Thursday, about her blood-spattered rise and fall.

But Blanco’s son Michael Corleone Blanco – named after the character in The Godfather – claims the show is based on extensive, in-depth interviews he gave to the producers from 2009 to 2022.

The producers sold the concept to Netflix but, possibly concerned over the ethics of paying the estate of a violent drug trafficker known to personally take part in the murders of her rivals, it did not want the family involved.

Now Blanco’s estate has lodged a lawsuit in Miami-dade County, Florida, seeking an injunction to block the show and damages “in excess of $50,000”.

In an interview on Colombian radio, the late cartel leader’s son said: “I wonder whether they truly wanted to do a complete portrayal, a well-done portrayal [of my mother], because they never approached the family or contacted me, the youngest son, who was with her day and night, who knows how she talked and walked.”

Blanco was shot dead, aged 69, in her hometown in 2012 as she shopped for groceries.

Netflix and Vergara have yet to respond to the lawsuit.