Griselda Blanco

Griselda Blanco was a Colombian cocaine trafficker who helped build cocaine distribution networks in Miami during the 1970s and 1980s.

Medellín Cartel: A Colombian drug-trafficking organization that became a major cocaine supplier to the United States. Blanco operated within the Colombian networks that fed Miami’s cocaine trade.
Drug trafficking: The illegal production, transport, and distribution of controlled drugs. Blanco’s enterprise depended on organizing each stage of cocaine distribution.
Pablo Escobar: A Colombian drug lord who led the Medellín Cartel and became one of the world’s most notorious traffickers. Escobar and Blanco are often associated with the same era of Colombian cocaine trafficking.
RICO Act: A U.S. federal law that allows prosecution of people involved in organized criminal enterprises. Racketeering laws shaped how prosecutors targeted organized drug operations.
Cocaine: A powerful stimulant drug derived from coca leaves and trafficked internationally. Cocaine was the commodity at the center of Blanco’s trafficking business.
Cocaine smuggling: The illegal movement of cocaine across borders or through customs controls. Smuggling routes linked Colombian suppliers to buyers in the United States.
Carlos Lehder: A Colombian-German trafficker who helped establish cocaine-smuggling routes into the United States. Lehder’s routes reflect the broader Colombian networks supplying U.S. markets.
Drug Enforcement Administration: A U.S. federal agency responsible for enforcing controlled-substance laws and investigating drug trafficking. Federal drug enforcement formed part of the response to Miami’s cocaine trade.
Miami drug war: A period of violent competition among drug traffickers in Miami, especially during the late 1970s and 1980s. Blanco’s operations became associated with the violence of Miami’s cocaine trade.
Drug distribution network: An organized system for moving illegal drugs from suppliers through intermediaries to local sellers. Such networks enabled cocaine to reach Miami’s wholesale and retail markets.

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Organized crimeBroader topic: Her career illuminates women's roles in networks often portrayed as exclusively male.