Who was Florida criminal Griselda Blanco? Reactions to the new Netflix, Sofia Vergara series

Netflix’s most recent original limited series just hit the streaming platform yesterday and is already making waves on TikTok and X.

“Griselda,” starring Sofia Vergara as Griselda Blanco, is about a Colombian woman who was a prominent leader in the establishment and growth of illegal cocaine trading between Colombia and Miami from the ‘70s through the '80s.

According to USA TODAY’s fact check, the show “is a fictionalized account of the rise and fall of the ‘Godmother of Cocaine’ during the violent drug wars in Miami in the 1970s and '80s, told through a more humanizing lens.”

Some social media conversation is bubbling up around the idea of dramatizing such a prominent figure of such a dark moment in Colombian history. Vergara – who was also the executive producer for the show – is catching some of the heat, as she and Netflix are being sued by the late Blanco’s estate.

The show and Vergara are getting a lot of love on X, while pop culture commentators on TikTok are spending more time expressing concern for the show’s potential to stoke misinformation.

Here’s what happened to Griselda Blanco in real life, how to watch “Griselda” and social media reactions to the lawsuit and the show itself.

What happened to Griselda Blanco?

Blanco was a Colombian drug lord well-known for establishing illegal drug trades between not only Colombia and Miami, but also New York and California.

The real Griselda Blanco was born in Cartagena, Colombia in 1943 and moved to Queens, New York in the ‘60s, returning to Colombia in 1975.

In the late ‘70s, she moved her operation back to the U.S., and became largely responsible for a huge influx of cocaine to Miami. In 1984, Blanco moved to California, where she lived until the DEA arrested her in February of 1985. She was charged for conspiring to manufacture, import, and distribute cocaine in a federal court in New York and was found guilty.

While serving her 15-year sentence, Blanco was charged again with three counts of first-degree murder in Florida. In the late ‘90s, she pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder in exchange for a reduced sentence.

After suffering through health issues and a heart attack in prison, Blanco was released in 2004 and deported back to Medellín, Colombia. She was eventually murdered in a drive-by motorcycle shooting in front of a butcher shop in Medellín on September 3, 2012.

When did Griselda Blanco move to Miami?

Blanco's life has been extensively documented in television shows and media reports. In 1978, three years after she moved back to Colombia from Queens, Griselda Blanco moved her operation to Miami, where she eventually became known as a ruthless queenpin.

Miami is where Blanco was named “The Godmother of Cocaine.”

“She displayed a brazen ruthlessness that plunged the city into a period of violence that became known as the Cocaine Cowboy Wars," Britannica’s profile on Blanco says. “She allegedly ordered numerous murders, many of which were committed by gunmen on motorcycles, a practice she was said to have invented.”

By the time she was forced to return to Florida to face three murder charges, she’d been implicated with hundreds of others.

Who is suing Netflix for 'Griselda?'

Through his late mother’s estate, Griselda Blanco’s youngest son, Michael Corleone Blanco (45), is suing Netflix and Sofia Vergara for using his families’ images and likenesses without permission.

The estate filed the lawsuit on January 17, eight days before “Griselda” was released on Netflix.

According to USA TODAY’s fact-check of the show, Michael Corleone Blanco is suing for $100,000 in damages through the Miami-Dade County court.

He currently lives in Miami with his wife Marie and their three children. He’s been featured in three seasons of “Cartel Crew” on VH-1. The show is about family members of notorious cartels trying to separate themselves from their reputations and mistakes by making a new way for their families.

How many episodes does ‘Griselda’ have?

There are six episodes of “Griselda,” each one hour long. All six episodes of the limited series are now available to stream on Netflix.

Social Media reactions to Sofia Vergara as Griselda Blanco

Colombian pop-culture commentator, red carpet host, podcaster and TikToker Estefenia Pessoa, known to the internet as “Tefi,” posted a TikTok about the series on Wednesday.

“Before I talk about this series, I just want to say I know Sofia Vergara loves where she comes from. I know she loves Colombia...” Tefi said in her video. “That being said, whenever there is a series coming out about this time in Colombia’s history, I get a little – the word isn’t protective…”

“I just want to say, Colombia is much, much more than this terrible time in history.”

There are more than 291 million views under the TikTok hashtag #Griselda. Here are some other TikToks and tweets about the show:

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Griselda Blanco's ties to Miami, How to watch the new Netflix series