Motorcycle Gunmen Take Out 'Cocaine Godmother'

Griselda Blanco, the so-called "Godmother of Cocaine" who orchestrated a wave of horrific drug violence in the streets of Miami in the '70s and '80s, was gunned down in Colombia yesterday. Police say the 69-year-old was leaving a butcher shop when a pair of gunmen on motorcycles pulled up and put two bullets in her head—an ironic death given that Blanco herself is credited with inventing motorcycle assassinations, the Miami Herald reports. (She was also reportedly Pablo Escobar's mentor.) Her pregnant daughter-in-law was with her at the time but emerged unscathed.

"It's surprising to all of us that she had not been killed sooner," one Miami homicide detective said. "She made a lot of enemies." Though Blanco was only ever convicted of three murders (including that of a 2-year-old boy), detectives believe she ordered at least 40. She spent almost 20 years in US prison before being deported to Colombia in 2004. She is survived by her son, Michael Corleone—yes, she named him after the Godfather character—who, according to the Miami New Times, is currently under house arrest in Miami. (More Griselda Blanco stories.)