


Netflix‘s new crime drama Griselda doesn’t really care that much about getting the facts right. It’s far more interested in capturing the vibes of Griselda Blanco’s (Sofia Vergara) rise to power in the Miami drug world than it is in accurately recounting events. So much so, the final episode of Griselda is chock full of wild changes to what really went down towards the end of Blanco’s run as the Cocaine Godmother. No, Marta Ochoa (Julieth Restrepo) didn’t accidentally die of an overdose; she reportedly was tortured and murdered by Blanco. Dario (Alberto Guerra) didn’t split from Griselda just as the feds were closing in, but two years prior to her ultimate arrest. And Griselda didn’t turn herself in whilst laying low in Long Beach, California, but was arrested in 1985 at her Miami home.
However, there’s one hilariously insane sequence in Griselda Episode 6 “Adios, Miami” that actually did happen: hitman Jorge “Rivi” Ayala-Rivera’s (Martin Rodriguez) wild phone sex scandal.
Yeah, the one thing Griselda gets right is that the prosecution’s star witness in the murder case against Blanco had to be thrown out because he had been having phone sex with not one, but two (!!), secretaries working in the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office. If anything, Griselda downplays how insane this development was, but at least they included the wackiest turn of real life events among the straight up lies.
So what exactly happened? Well, let’s back up and clarify the real life timeline of events for a minute. Netflix’s Griselda makes it look like Griselda Blanco’s arrest was immediately followed by Rivi’s incarceration. This is not true! Blanco was arrested on drug charges in 1985. Rivi was eventually nabbed by law enforcement in connection to a Chicago (not Long Beach) bank robbery. Then in 1993, he plead guilty to three murders, which he claimed he completed on the orders of Blanco.

For the next five years, prosecutors worked diligently on a case that would nail Blanco for the multiple murders she allegedly orchestrated. However, in 1998, it was discovered that Sherry Rossbach and Raquel Navarro, secretaries in the state attorney’s office, had been not only having phone sex with Rivi, but cashing check orders he mailed them on his behalf. They were immediately suspended without pay and their actions compromised the integrity of the witness.
Later that year, Blanco pleaded guilty to three counts of second degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, to run concurrently. However, because her health was bad — she suffered a heart attack behind bars — she was allowed an early release in 2004 with the understanding that she would be deported back to Colombia.
Blanco reportedly became a born again Christian later in life and spent her last years quietly in Medellín. Nevertheless, her actions eventually did catch up with her. In 2012, she was murdered by a drive-by-motorcyclist. The irony? Blanco was the person responsible for masterminding and perfecting the execution style. (But somehow Griselda couldn’t make that a girlboss moment so I guess it was left out).
But yeah, the one thing Griselda gets right in its last episode is Rivi’s insane phone sex scandal. What a dude! (And he’s still alive in jail!)