Griselda: Fact vs. fiction in Netflix’s drug-queen drama, explained

Netflix's limited series Griselda, starring Sofía Vergara, is based on the true story of the infamous Colombian drug lord Griselda Blanco Restrepo. This series unfolds the life of the woman known as "The Cocaine Godmother."

The protagonist ran Miami’s drug trade back in the late 70s and early 80s. And evidently, when Hollywood covers a true crime record as this one, especially one so hostile, you always have to wonder where the facts end and fiction begins.

Let’s explore what the series got right, and where drama overlapped for better TV, and what the real character was actually like.

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Griselda: Fact vs. fiction

In the series, Griselda is a driven but cornered woman who turns to extreme violence to protect her family and build a business in an unconventional world of crime. That’s a powerful narrative for a show, sure, but the historical facts reveal a much colder story.

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An alleged killer from childhood

The real Blanco was scary long before she became a cartel queen. The series tends to focus on her tragic backstory, but her entry into crime was shockingly early.

On the other hand, law enforcement reports and biographers suggest she committed her first murder at the tender age of eleven. So here's the story. She kidnapped a kid from a well-to-do family and, later, shot him when the family refused to pay ransom.

The gut-wrenching detail shows her inclination towards extreme violence from the very beginning. In contrast to the drama, the reality suggests the brutality that awaited.

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The actual number of victims

While the Netflix show is packed with intense shootouts and killings, but the actual number of victims? Historians and police estimate she was responsible for ordering over 200 assassinations.

She also invented a method that would define her legacy: the "motorcycle assassin." This was her signature move: Two hitmen on a motorbike, pulling up next to a target, and spraying bullets. It was fast, efficient, and created utter chaos in Miami. She was later killed herself in Medellín by the very same method.

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The three dead husbands

The series focuses heavily on the dramatic relationships with her second husband, Alberto Bravo, and third, Darío Sepúlveda. It shows her shooting Bravo, then later ordering the hit on Sepúlveda after he steals their son. This is mostly true, and it’s why she earned the name "The Black Widow." All three men she married met a violent end.

But here’s where the show adds some seasoning: it makes it seem like she killed Bravo partly for revenge after he forced her to have s*x with his brother to clear a debt. That dramatic motive is probably fictional. The real reason, according to most accounts? Bravo allegedly embezzled millions of dollars from their drug operation. The show used an emotional reason, but the real one was just cold, hard business, which thrived on money.

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The characters

Detective June Hawkins: The Real Cop

One of the most important figures in the series is the detective who finally puts the pieces together, June Hawkins. She's a real person, and her contribution to bringing Blanco down is accurate. Back then, the Miami-Dade police department was a total boys' club. Hawkins, as an intelligence analyst and one of the first female detectives, absolutely faced s*xism and had her reports ignored.

The show nailed the difficulty she had in getting the male officers to take the idea of a female drug lord seriously. We know the showrunners spoke with the real Hawkins-Singleton, who acted as a consultant, so her story is probably 60% to 70% fact. The final, dramatic prison meeting between the protagonist and June? That’s probably a neat TV moment, not a real one.

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Carla: The composite character

The character of Carla, played by Karol G, who starts as a sex worker and becomes a trusted drug mule, is a fictional composite. She’s not one specific person. She stands for the many, often desperate, Colombian women Blanco hired to be couriers.

Griselda was the first to use women to smuggle drugs into the US by sewing pockets into their undergarments. The show explores that side of the operation and the different ways women were involved in Blanco's drug enterprise, both as victims and as willing participants.

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Rivi Ayala

Jorge “Rivi” Ayala-Rivera was Griselda’s main hitman, in both reel and real life. He was a stone-cold killer and a key figure in her empire. The show handles his eventual downfall perfectly. It also covers unbelievable detail that sabotaged the case against Griselda, that is, the phone s*x scandal.

Rivi had struck a deal to testify against Blanco in her first-degree murder trial. It would have meant the death penalty for her. But get this: while he was in jail waiting to testify, he was caught having s**ually explicit phone calls with multiple secretaries in the State Attorney's office.

This invalidated his credibility as a witness, essentially during the murder trials. Griselda was able to strike a deal and plead guilty to lesser charges, serving only a few years before being deported.

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The Final Curtain Call

The six episodes have to condense decades of crime, so the creators made a few changes to ramp up the tension at the end.

The capture and the son's fate

The show ended with Griselda turning herself in as a desperate, protective move for her son, but this is deemed a dramatic license. The real Griselda Blanco was hunted and arrested by the DEA in 1985. In fact, she didn't call the cops; they tracked her down.

The news that her three older sons, Dixon, Uber, and Osvaldo, were all killed while she was locked up is indeed true, but the timing is compressed for maximum impact.

They weren't killed all at once right before she was released. Their deaths were spread out over the years. Only her youngest son, Michael Corleone Blanco (yes, named after the Godfather character), survived, making her story a true Greek tragedy of crime.

Nonetheless, the makers of Griselda chose one of the darkest figures from the "Cocaine Cowboys" era and told her story with a modern lens.