After wrapping up American Idol and taking on a starring role in NBC crime-drama Shades of Blue, songstress Jennifer Lopez is ready to once again prove her talent on-screen. It was just announced that the 47-year-old would be starring in an upcoming HBO made-for-TV movie.
The “Jenny from the Block” singer is portraying the infamous drug leader Griselda Blanco, who is also known as the ‘Cocaine Godmother’ and ‘Queen of Narco-Trafficking.’ A Columbian-native, Griselda (who passed away in 2012) had an enormous impact on the US drug trade during the 1970s and 1980s and successfully established her place as one of the biggest female cartel members of all time.
Following the news of her casting, Jennifer Lopez released a statement about her upcoming role. The beauty exclaimed, “I’ve been fascinated by the life of this corrupt and complicated woman for many years. The idea of teaming with HBO felt like the perfect fit for finally bringing Griselda’s story to life.”
In addition to starring in the movie, Jennifer Lopez and her production company will also be executive producing it.
Alongside a screen shot of the Variety article stating “Jennifer Lopez to Star as Drug Lord Griselda Blanco in HBO Film,” J.Lo posted a playful caption reading “Here we gooooo….[sic]” to her Instagram page.
Jennifer Lopez, Instagram post:
With the recent success of TV specials based on true stories (American Crime Story, Narcos, etc.), it is more than likely that Jennifer has another hit on her hands with this latest endeavor.
Now here’s some fun facts about Griselda Blanco:
Blanco was the quintessential rags-to-riches kingpin
Blanco grew up in the slums of Cartagena, Colombia, though she considered Medellín her hometown –she moved there with her motherat the age of 3. She was born in 1943 and reportedly got her start in crime as a pickpocket and prostitute as a pre-teen, though she ascended the ranks rather quickly, allegedly making her first kill at the age of 11 as part of a kidnapping. By the mid-1970s, her organization was moving 300 kilos of cocaine a month, worth about $80 million.
2. She was also known as ‘The Black Widow’
Generally, things didn’t turn out well for Blanco’s paramours. She supposedly murdered her first lover as a teenager and had her first husband, Carlos Trujillo, killed a few years after divorcing him. She shot her second husband, Alberto Bravo – who was instrumental as a partner in her rise to power – herself, in the parking lot of a Bogotá nightclub. Another husband, Dario Sepulveda, was killed in 1983. (Some sources ID Sepulveda as Blanco’s second husband and Bravo as her first.)
3. Her life was tailor-made for a movie
The details of Blanco’s life veer into the cartoonish at some points, and rumor can be difficult to separate from fact. Some of the more oft-repeated details: She named her youngest song Michael Corleone, after the character from theGodfather series; she was addicted to “bazooka,” a form of smokeable, unrefined cocaine; she would frequently have orgies with both sexes and force men and women to have sex at gunpoint; and part of her smuggling operation involved custom-made lingerie with special packets designed to hold cocaine. Among her most cherished possessions were reportedly an emerald-and-gold embellished MAC 10 machine pistol, a set of pearls (or, variously, a ring) that formerly belonged to former First Lady of Argentina Eva Perón and last but not least, a tea set once used by Queen Elizabeth, smuggled out of Buckingham Palace.
4. She’s estimated to have been responsible for more than 200 murders
Though Blanco was estimated to be behind 3,400 lbs. of cocaine smuggling a month and countless murders (40-50 on the conservative end and more than 200 on the high end), she was only convicted of three murders. She served 13 years in federal custody over drug charges and was then remanded to Florida authorities, but when it was revealed that the prosecution’s chief witness – Jorge Ayala, one of Blanco’s hitmen – had had phone sex with secretaries from the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office, the resulting scandal forced a veteran prosecutor to resign, the case fell apart and Blanco eventually cut a plea deal in 1998.
5. She died pretty much as you’d expect her to
Blanco was deported back to Colombia in 2004. In 2012, she was gunned down in Medellín, outside a butcher shop, by an assassin riding a motorcycle. Coincidentally, Blanco was credited with introducing the idea of the “motorcycle assassin” as a tool of cartel violence. “This is classic live-by-the-sword, die-by-the-sword,” filmmaker Billy Corben, whose two documentaries about the cocaine epidemic of the 1970s and ’80s, Cocaine Cowboys, partially focused on Blanco’s reign, told the Miami Herald. “Or in this case, live-by-the-motorcycle-assassin, die-by-the-motorcycle assassin.”
While Kylie Jenner may be raking in the bills with her incredibly successful makeup empire, her boyfriend Tyga’s finances are a completely different story. On Tuesday, a bench warrant was issued for the 26-year-old’s arrest, stemming from a disgruntled ex-land lord. The rapper is facing detainment if he does not address the warrant and legal issue promptly.
In the recent issue of People Magazine, the ex-land lord’s legal representative Boris Treyzon further explained the “Rack City” singer’s predicament. Boris told the magazine, “[Tyga] will be detained or dates certainly will be set [if he doesn’t address the legal issue at-hand]. He will enter into an agreement that he or representation will appear at such a date.”
According to Boris, the [roughly] $200,000 Mercedes Maybach he just gifted his girlfriend Kylie for her 19th birthday is at risk of being taken away if Tyga doesn’t straighten out his alleged financial obligations. The legal rep stated, “Once [Tyga] was served, the lien is created. Of course, we have an irate client who is owed half a million dollars and then the client reads that Tyga is giving a Maybach as a gift – that’s in violation of two things. There is a hold on him transferring any assets while there is a judgment outstanding – that’s going to be a separate action to recover the car unless the judgment is satisfied – and he’s to appear in court, be placed under oath, and he needs to answer questions.”
Thomas Gibson has been fired from “Criminal Minds,” the CBS crime drama he’s starred in for twelve season. This came just one day after he was suspended from the first two episodes of the new season because of problems. He was directing and starring in those episodes and creative issues arose.
It appears that an on-set altercation happened with a producer resulting in his being fired from the show. No word on a replacement for his leading character or how the show will explain his disappearance from the upcoming season.
ABC Studios and CBS Studios issued this quick and rather terse statement:
“Thomas Gibson has been dismissed from ‘Criminal Minds,’ ” ABC Studios and CBS TV Studios said in a statement Friday. “Creative details for how the character’s exit will be addressed in the show will be announced at a later date.”