In the final episode of Griselda on Netflix, Griselda Blanco (played by Sofia Vergara) learns that her eldest sons are dead, leaving behind young Michael Corleone Blanco, her youngest son. Michael ended up in the foster system after his mum’s arrest, hopping from family to family until he reached adulthood.
Michael Blanco lives with his wife and three children in Miami, Florida
Michael Blanco lives with his family in Miami, Florida. He runs a clothing line named Puro Blanco and enjoys a ‘billionaire cartel lifestyle’. Michael claims he left the drug trade after Griselda’s murder in 2012 in Colombia. A year before his mother’s death, he was arrested on two counts of conspiracy to traffic cocaine and cocaine trafficking.
Michael was awaiting trial when his mother was killed while leaving a butcher shop. He told Fox News that he abandoned the drug trade because he didn’t want to expose his kids to the dangerous cartel life. Michael said:
“Right then at that moment, I said to myself, ‘What type of world did I grow up in that my whole family’s dead?’ My brothers are dead, my father and they just killed my mother. I don’t want to be in this life anymore because I don’t want my kids to have this generational tie, the generational curse that I was born into.”
Michael is suing Netflix for allegedly using his material without his consent
Michael Blanco is unhappy with Netflix and Latin World Entertainment for allegedly releasing Griselda without his approval. He unsuccessfully tried to block the show’s premiere and is now attempting to get compensation from the streamer. Michael claims that Netflix maliciously and fraudulently used interviews he gave from 2009 to 2012 to script the series.
In a statement to Business Insider, Michael stated that he would have given Netflix access to the interviews and private details about Griselda’s life for the right compensation. The statement reads:
“Make no mistake, Michael Blanco is humble and thrilled each and every time someone reaches out to shine a light on his mother and the Blanco family. However, in the case of Netflix/Latin World Entertainment, the Defendants approached Michael Blanco to gain his work, perspective, and insight to only turn around and act like he does not exist, in an apparent attempt to reap their own profits.”
Michael told The Daily Mail that Netflix representatives met with him to reveal that the streamer wouldn’t involve his family in the show’s production. He opined that Netflix’s approach would have been different were Griselda still alive. Micheal continued:
“No matter what, you need to respect my mother enough to seek the consultation of our youngest son – her best friend that visited her five times a week during her 23 years incarceration. Not only is it a slap in my face, it is a slap in the face of my ancestors, that she would do such a thing. No matter where you are now, or how elite, it’s in the Colombian way.”
Michael also wasn’t happy with his mother’s portrayal in Griselda. “My mother was a beautiful woman and it’s crazy that a lot of people say, ‘No you’ve got to look more like a drug addict’. The fact that they call her ‘ugly’ really offends me,” he said. Michael added that his book – My Mother, The Godmother, and The True Story of Michael Corleone Blanco – paints a more accurate portrait of Griselda.