Posts Tagged ‘Griselda Blanco’

Michael Corleone Blanco: The Son Of Cocaine Cowboys’ Griselda Blanco Speaks!

Monday, August 4th, 2008


Michael Corleone Blanco

By Martin A. Berrios

Ever think what it would be like growing up in a family engrossed in crime? You might be able to get a small glimpse into the life when you watch a mafia movie or read up on the come up on the most well known mobsters. Well if you ever wanted the real deal then Michael Corleone Blanco is your guy. The son of Griselda Blanco of Cocaine Cowboys 2 fame, he would be literally born into the street life as he was named after the after the fictional character Michael Corleone played by Al Pacino in the movie trilogy The Godfather. Gangster right?

Now almost thirty years later, Michael finally speaks on growing up in the household with “The Godmother” at the helm. In his first interview ever, Michael sheds light on his notorious mother, his precarious childhood, and life beyond the Blanco name.

AllHipHop.com: You’re the son of Griselda Blanco. How was she as a mother?

Michael Corleone Blanco: As far as my mother goes, I’d like to compare my upbringing as far as a family upbringing, you know how the Italians have The Sopranos and it’s a family being a family, that’s how it was growing up in the Blanco household. You would catch my mother with her maids making dinner you know? Besides everything that was obvious to a child’s eye, it was having family order. Just like a regular family’s chain of command, my mother has always been the head of the household. My mother always took care of the boys and from there me and my brothers were the head honchos of the family and we told everyone else what it was. It was a good upbringing. Christmas came around and I got my first Porsche at six years old.

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ExtravaGangsta Radio Interviews Charles Cosby

Friday, August 1st, 2008

Extravagangsta Radio

July 31, 2008 - E.G Radio’s Lynx and Ras chop it up with Charles and learn all about what it was like dealing with this the worlds most notorious female drug dealer often referred to as the female Scarface. Learn about how Cocaine Cowboys II came about, what Charles and Griselda are up to now, why millions in the game meant nothing to Charles’ happiness, and much more. Go cop that DVD “Cocaine Cowboys 2″ now!

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Total Time: 30 minutes 15 seconds

Charles Cosby: Cocaine Cowboy’s Griselda Blanco’s Million Dollar Man

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
By Martin A. Berrios

Every so often a criminal persona will have a street reputation so grand; it will become permanently fixated into popular culture. From Al Capone and his cigar, the Son of Sam’s grim mystique all the way up to John Gotti’s Teflon disposure. In 2006 a new outlaw would be etched in our hearts via the cult classic documentary Cocaine Cowboys.

The film chronicled the insane drug trafficking flowing throughout Miami in the 1970’s and 1980’s. At the center of all the money, murder, and kidnapping was Griselda Blanco. Also known as “The Godmother”, Blanco was a pioneer in the cocaine trade due to her amassed fortune and ruthless ambition to stay at top.

While Cocaine Cowboys detailed her rise to infamy, her entire story was not told. Now with the recent release of the much awaited sequel Cocaine Cowboys 2, her story continues in California. Albeit being incarcerated, Blanco still ran a multi million dollar drug operation behind bars with the assistance of Charles Cosby. A dealer himself, Cosby would link with Griselda and make street history. In an exclusive, AllHipHop.com speaks to The Godmother’s multi million dollar man.

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Metromix: Riding High

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

via Metromix

The narrator of ‘Cocaine Cowboys 2′ discusses his drug-dealing past and the whereabouts of the real-life Michael Corleone

By John Hood
Special to Metromix

In 2006, Miami filmmakers Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman released “Cocaine Cowboys,” a bullet-riddled chronicle of the days when South Florida was under the thumb—and the gun—of the drug trade. Directed by Corben and co-produced by Spellman, who together run the production company Rakontur, the daring documentary recounted what it was like when the region was awash in blood and money. Now, the Rakontur boys are back with a sequel that’s every bit as violent and captivating as its predecessor.

Released this week on DVD, “Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin’ With the Godmother” highlights the cold, hard life of Griselda Blanco, the billionaire cocaine queenpin some people consider responsible for establishing the drug trade in the United States. As ruthless as she was rich, the Colombian-born Blanco killed at will, and somehow managed not to get herself murdered along the way.

The film is narrated by Charles Cosby, an upwardly mobile Oakland, Calif., crack dealer who parlayed a jailhouse affair with The Godmother into a multimillion-dollar drug business so robust it earned him a central spot in her life. Although Blanco’s exploits are the focus of “Cocaine Cowboys 2,” the brash, bold and articulate Cosby steals the show.

City Link Metromix.com interviewed the former gangster last week before the movie’s premiere in Miami Beach.

How come you’re not dead?

I’m not dead because I knew when to hold my cards [and] I knew when to fold my cards. I also saw all the pitfalls that were gobbling up other drug dealers, so I let their demise—for lack of a better word—be my guide. If they did their thing a certain way and they failed at it, I made sure I steered clear of that.

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Star Of Cocaine Cowboys 2 Talks To Jim & Jade

Saturday, July 26th, 2008

via CBS4

MIAMI (CBS4) ― The 2006 drug documentary “Cocaine Cowboys” took viewers into the violent, deadly and not-so-underground world of drug trafficking in Miami in the late seventies and eighties. Director Billy Corben’s sequel, “Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin’ with the Godmother” focuses on the lives of “The Godmother” Griselda Blanco, and her former lover Charles Cosby. Both Cosby and Corben talked about the film with Jim and Jade Thursday morning.

Griselda Blanco, aka The Godmother, was responsible for bringing in more drugs and more crime to South Florida’s streets than anyone else at the time. She led a $40 million cocaine business, and Charles Cosby was her lover.

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AllHipHop.com Gives Cocaine Cowboys II 5 Stars

Friday, July 25th, 2008

AllHipHop Review Of Cocaine Cowboys IIvia AllHipHop.com

Cocaine Cowboys II Set to Hit Stores
Published Tuesday, July 22, 2008 8:46 AM

By Ismael AbduSalaam

In a follow up to the highly successful cult original, Cocaine Cowboys II: Hustlin’ With the Godmother has been confirmed for DVD release on July 29.

The sequel will be narrated by Charles Cosby, a lover of the notorious Griselda Blanco, also known by the aliases “The Godmother,” “Black Widow,” and “Cocaine Queen of Miami.”

Cosby opened his first crackhouse in the late 80’s, and became well known throughout East Oakland’s burgeoning drug trade.

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Surviving the Black Widow - New Times Article

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

via New Times

Griselda Blanco has acquired many monikers in her 65 years. The Colombian drug dealer earned the title of “Cocaine Queen” in 1970s New York, and she became La Madrina — AKA “The Godmother” — when she moved her operations to Miami. Because of her tendency to bump off her own husbands, three in all, she has also been dubbed “Black Widow.” Blanco got busted in California in 1985, and she was subsequently convicted in federal court of conspiring to import cocaine. The conviction made the nightly news, which is how Charles Cosby, a small-time street hustler from Oakland, California, learned about her. He was gob-smacked, he says. “My drug dealing was confined to the hood,” he recounts in a telephone interview from California. “I couldn’t see beyond the ghetto. I never knew anything about the higher echelons.”

Cosby saw Blanco as a role model, someone to be emulated. In 1991, he sent a fan letter to her California prison cell, and she wrote back. The two struck up a fast correspondence friendship. Authorities wouldn’t let Cosby, then 23, meet the 51-year-old Blanco in person because, he says, he was on probation for carrying a machine gun.

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Miami Premiere - Cocaine Cowboys 2 - July 23rd 2008

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

The Miami premiere of Cocaine Cowboys 2 is Wednesday July 23, 2008 at 8:30pm. The premiere will be at the Colony Theater on 1040 Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. Join us for the afterparty at Bella Rose at 423 16th Street in Miami Beach (between Washington and Drexel). There will be live video-remixing of Cocaine Cowboys 2 by DJ Tom Laroc.

RSVP Here

-= The Official Charles Cosby Site =-
Buy Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin With The Godmother Now!

Griselda Blanco and Husband Alberto Bravo

Friday, July 11th, 2008

This is a clip from ‘Cocaine Cowboys 2′ of the the fatal confrontation between Griselda Blanco and her husband Alberto Bravo — the person credited with Blanco’s introduction into cocaine trafficking. Alberto’s death gave rise to Blanco’s international legend — and solidified her status as cocaine’s first billionaire!

-= The Official Charles Cosby Site =-
Buy Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin With The Godmother Now!

Better With Coke - East Bay Express Article

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

via East Bay Express

Oakland crack-house operator Charles Cosby became the twentysomething lover of fiftysomething Colombian cocaine queenpin Griselda Blanco after writing the then-incarcerated billionairess a fan letter that said: “I wanna rub elbows with a legend.” Mano a mano with Blanco, Brookfield Village-bred Cosby soared to Medellín-financed überhustlerdom in the early ’90s, stashing his millions in suitcases and car trunks, burying some in backyards. See his saga in Cocaine Cowboys II: Hustlin’ With the Godmother, a straight-to-DVD documentary due out next month from Miami-based Rakontur Productions. Magnet Releasing, part of Mark Cuban’s Magnolia Pictures, has picked up world distribution rights. At one point, Cosby narrates authentic-looking footage of cocaine, water, and baking soda boiling in a coffeepot. “The cocaine turns into a yellow gel-like liquid,” Cosby intones somberly; subtitle-instructions superimpose the stovetop. Tapwater, ice cubes: a crack-cake forms and is tipped out onto a plate: “Take a large knife or a meat cleaver or what have you and break it down into ten-dollar pieces,” Cosby instructs. Now retired from mackerdom and married with children, he describes himself as “incredibly blessed … it’s my turn to save lives.” For starters, at CharlesCosby.com he sells Cafe Press items depicting his cigar-smoking face at the center of a hundred-dollar bill, wielding a semiautomatic weapon, and pointing the weapon at viewers with the caption “Respected by a City of Killas.” Select your favorite on a shirt, notepad, messenger bag, or thong.

-= The Official Charles Cosby Site =-
Buy Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin With The Godmother Now!