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Netflix‘s Griselda ends on a tragic note for the “Cocaine Godmother” Griselda Blanco (Sofia Vergara). Seven years after the cartel queen turns herself into authorities to avoid being murdered by Rafa Salazar (Camilo Jiménez Varón), Griselda gets a visit from June Hawkins (Juliana Aidén Martinez), the detective who busted her operation in the first place. The now-retired Hawkins tells Blanco she’s there to pass on some very bad news. Blanco’s three oldest sons — Dixon (Orlando Pineda), Uber (Jose Velazquez), and Ozzy (Martin Fajardo) — have all been shot and killed while she’s been safe behind bars. The one bit of consolation? Blanco’s youngest son, Michael Corleone (Benson D. Larracuente), is alive and well. Griselda takes this tragic news and retreats to her jail cell, mentally transporting herself back to the last moment she was happy: watching her three oldest boys frolic on a California beach. Griselda then drops the information that Blanco herself would be gunned down outside a market in Medallín, Colombia at the age of 69.
That’s how Netflix’s Griselda ends, but did you get the strange sense that the limited series didn’t quite wrap up all of its loose ends? A simple Wikipedia search reveals how much the Netflix show whiffed key moments in Griselda Blanco’s life story. For instance, she didn’t turn herself into cops in California, but was arrested at home in Miami. Even if you’re cool with a heavily dramatized retelling of the Cocaine Godmother’s story, you probably still have questions. Like, how exactly did Griselda Blanco’s sons die? Where is her youngest son, Michael Corleone, now? Was the death of cartel princess Marta Ochao (Julieth Restrepo) an accident that Griselda got blamed for? Who killed Dario (Alberto Guerra)? WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?!?!
Here’s everything you need to know about the end of Griselda on Netflix…
Griselda Ending Explained: How Did Griselda Blanco’s Sons Die? How Many Kids Did Griselda Blanco Have?
Throughout Netflix’s Griselda, we’re repeatedly told that the only reason Griselda Blanco is becoming a super-terrifying cartel boss is for her sons. Over the course of her life, Blanco had four sons. Her first three children, Dixon, Uber, and Osvalde (or Ozzy), were born to her first husband, document forger Carlos Trujillo. Carlos never appears in the Netflix show and it’s understood that Blanco had him assassinated. After murdering her second husband, Alberto Bravo, Blanco wed again — this time to hitman Dario Sepúlveda. Together, the two had Blanco’s fourth son, Michael Corleone Blanco.
So what happened to Griselda’s boys? Well, the oldest three are all dead. The Miami New Times reported in 2008 that Dixon, Uber, and Ozzy were all murdered “purportedly in retribution for carnage [Blanco] herself caused.” While it’s unclear how, when, and why Uber died — fictional character June Hawkins simply said he was shot in Colombia during a drug deal — there’s a bit more clarity on what happened to Dixon and Ozzy. Those two most definitely took up their mother’s mantel as suppliers for the Cali Cartel in the ’90s. Ozzy was killed first, in a Colombia nightclub, and Dixon shortly thereafter, also in Colombia.
So what happened to Michael Corleone Blanco? Is Griselda’s youngest son still alive?
Where is Griselda’s Youngest Son Michael Corleone Now? Suing Netflix!
One of the few heartwarming moments in the Griselda finale is when her three oldest sons reveal that they’ve, uh, kidnapped their little brother Michael Corleone back. While Netflix’s Griselda keeps mum on how exactly Dario was gunned down, the general consensus is that Griselda Blanco ordered the hit on Dario two years before her incarceration and paid to have Michael Corleone returned to her. (Remember how we said Netflix played fast and loose with the facts? Dario split with Griselda two years before she was arrested.)
Today, Michael Corleone Blanco is a public figure, having successfully transitioned from drug dealer to wannabe hip hop artist/reality TV star. He appeared on Cartel Crew for several years, has raised a family (including the adopted son of one of his deceased brothers), and is a ferocious defender of his mother’s legacy.
If you visit Michael Blanco’s social media pages, you’ll find loving tributes to his beloved mother as well as public statements decrying the Netflix show Griselda. The younger Blanco is indeed suing Sofia Vergara right now. He’s also published a book purporting to tell his mother’s true story: My Mother, The Godmother, and the True Story of Michael Corleone Blanco, the son of Griselda Blanco.
So that’s what Griselda’s only surviving son is up to now. What about the people she killed? Well, specifically…what happened to Marta Ochoa?
How Did Marta Ochoa Die? Was It An Accident Like in Netflix’s Griselda?
What kicks off Griselda’s ultimate fall from grace in Netflix’s Griselda isn’t a murder, per se, but friend Marta Ochoa’s sudden death by overdose. Marta is the lover of cartel boss Rafa Salazar and cousin of major Medellín figure Fabio Ochoa (Christian Gnecco Quintero). Griselda depicts her as the consummate party girl, always high and strung out. When she and Griselda get high on crack in the beginning of Griselda Episode 6 “Adios, Miami,” Marta goes too far. She passes out mid-overdose and suffers a deathly blow to the head after falling on a glass coffee table.
Griselda then depicts how a panicked Blanco calls her trusted hitman Rivi Ayala (Martin Rodriguez) to help her clean up the body at Marta’s house. She knows she will be blamed for the young woman’s death because Rafa and the Ochoas are looking for any reason to take her out. The two are stumbled upon by Rafa, forcing them to sneak out of the house through the back, where they ditch Marta’s body in a hot tub. Rafa, understandably upset, vows to kill Griselda, which ultimately forces her to turn herself into the cops to save her own life.
But that’s not quite what happened in real life. Again, the real Griselda Blanco was arrested in her Miami home in 1985. She wasn’t already on the run in Long Beach. Also, it’s generally accepted that Blanco did order a hit on Marta Ochoa rather than pay for cocaine she was handing over during a drug deal.
Max Mermelstein is introduced as a character played by David Piggott in Griselda Episode 3. According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Mermelstein alleged that “Marta Ochoa Salderriega, first cousin to the three powerful Ochoa brothers, was a primary source of cocaine for Griselda. Griselda had Marta killed for the $1.8 million that Griselda owed her. First, they tortured Marta to find out where Rafael Salazar was. They tore out her fingernails, burned her with cigarettes, and beat her, but it did no good. Marta didn’t know where Salazar was. So, they shot her.”
Maybe it’s possible that Marta’s death was an accident, but considering that Netflix’s Griselda doesn’t really bother with facts, we’re leaning towards Mermelstein’s version.
The Marta Ochoa we meet in Griselda shouldn’t be confused with the Marta Ochoa we meet in Netflix’s Narcos. The Marta in Narcos was Marta Ochoa Vásquez, Fabio’s sister, who is most famous for being kidnapped by M-19 during political unrest in Colombia in the early 1980s. Narcos depicts this event and how Pablo Escobar convinced the Ochoa family to not pay her ransom. Instead, the Medellín cartel created the paramilitary group Muerte a Secuestradores or MAS. The Marta Ochoa in Griselda is Fabio’s cousin, Marta Ochoa Salderriega. (Did that confuse you? It confused me.)
