Griselda Blanco net worth: how much did Colombian drug lord make, was she richer than Pablo Escobar?

Griselda Blanco, played by Sofía Vergara in Netflix true crime drama series Griselda, was the richest female drug lord of all time, making millions through cocaine trafficking production and trade.

The six part limited series follows Blanco to Miami, where she became involved in a bloody drug war as she established her ruthless criminal empire in the 1970s.

Blanco also came into contact with fellow Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, who does not feature in this series, but was the main focus of Netflix’s hit crime drama Narcos. But how does Blanco’s illicit fortune stack up against other criminal masterminds? This is everything you need to know:

What was Griselda Blanco’s net worth?

Griselda Blanco was a prominent Colombian drug lord who was made rich through her involvement in the cocaine trade in Miami. 

She is believed to be the richest female drug lord of all time, and at her height, is believed to have been the 11th richest drug lord ever. Blanco is believed to have been worth $2.2 billion at the height of her criminal success, and around $2 billion at the time of her death in 2012, around $2.6 billion today with inflation. Her wealth included an impressive property portfolio worth $500 million.

However, Blanco’s vast wealth was not enough to protect her from prison - she was arrested in 1985 for cocaine trafficking and sentenced to 15 years in prison Whilst serving her sentence she was charged with three counts of second degree murder and sentenced to a further 20 years.

She was released from prison in 2004 on compassionate grounds due to her failing health. Blanco lived for a further eight years, but met a bloody end when she was killed, aged 69, by an assassin in Medellín in 2012.

Blanco’s huge net worth made her richer than many well-known crime lords including mafioso John Gotti, worth $30 million when he died, and infamous American gangster Al Capone, who was worth $100 million at his height, equivalent to $1.3 billion today.

Was Griselda Blanco richer than Pablo Escobar?

The Godmother of Cocaine may have been one of the richest criminals of all time, but her wealth is still eclipsed by her contemporary Pablo Escobar.

Blanco met Escobar in the late 1970s, and it has been rumoured that she had been a member of Pablo’s Medellin cartel. It was also theorised that they were rivals and at times romantically involved.

Whatever the truth of the criminals’ relationship, it is a fact that Escobar became vastly richer than Blanco, building a criminal empire that swelled his net worth to roughly $30 billion (more than $60 billion today). 

Another infamous drug lord who has eclipsed Blanco is ‘El Chapo’ Joaquín Guzmán, worth an estimated $5 billion, who is currently serving a life sentence in the US.