Who is Charles Cosby, the man Griselda Blanco dated while in prison?
Real-life drug lord Griselda Blanco is the subject of a new Netflix miniseries "Griselda."
The show doesn't address Blanco's relationship with former drug dealer Charles Cosby.
The pair had a professional and personal relationship while Blanco was in prison.
The new Netflix miniseries "Griselda" dramatizes the life of Colombian drug lord Griselda Blanco, but omits Charles Cosby, a drug dealer who managed to come out of a relationship with the "godmother of cocaine" alive.
The show stars Sofía Vergara as the titular character and centers on Blanco's reign in Miami in the 1970s and 1980s. With only six episodes, "Griselda" leaves out aspects of the real-life drug trafficker's history — like her later-in-life romance with Cosby.
Here's everything to know about Cosby and his relationship with Blanco.
Charles Cosby's relationship with Griselda Blanco began after he wrote her a letter while she was in prison
In the 2008 documentary about Blanco, called "Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin' With the Godmother," Cosby recalled how he started selling drugs on the streets of Oakland, California in 1984. As his business took off, he opened several crackhouses in the neighborhood.
"I started generating $1,000 every two days, and that's after six months of dealing," Cosby said in the film.
According to Cosby, he first became aware of Blanco after she was arrested in Irvine, California in 1985 and convicted of conspiring to import cocaine into the US.
Cosby began corresponding with Blanco after sending her a letter in 1991, while she was still imprisoned in California. According to the Miami New Times, the pair had an age gap of over 20 years.
Their written messages led to in-person jail visits that were immediately romantic.
"I'll never forget it," Cosby told the Miami New Times in 2008 of their first meeting. "When the officers brought her in, everything stopped. She commanded the attention of the entire room. She was beautiful. She immediately embraced me and stuck her tongue in my mouth."
According to Cosby, Blanco's drug operations were still in full force while she was serving time, and he became part of her business.
"I was a millionaire 45 days after meeting her," he said in "Cocaine Cowboys 2."
During a previous interview with "On The Spot," Cosby explained that it was easy to become attracted to Blanco because of how much time they spent together.
"If you're around a person long enough, you naturally develop feelings for them," he said, adding that she often gifted him Rolex pieces and other jewelry.
Blanco also bribed the guards at the federal prison so she could dress up when Cosby visited, he said.
"In the 300 times I saw her she was never in prison attire, always in designer clothing," he told The Sun in a recent interview.
Cosby also said that Blanco paid the guards $1,500 for access to a back room where they "had sex for around 15 or 20 minutes."
"She was passionate and a great kisser," he said of Blanco.
Cosby claimed that Blanco attempted to have him assassinated, but he survived because he was wearing a bullet-proof vest
Cosby told The Sun that he and Blanco discussed a future together. But their relationship soured when she suspected he was being unfaithful to her.
"About a year into the relationship, she tried to have me killed," he said. "I had been seeing this blonde lady called Amber and when Griselda found out, she hired a hitman and they almost succeeded."
"Some guy pulled up next to me at a stop-light and unloaded their pistol, but I was wearing a bullet-proof vest and it absorbed four bullets," he said.
Cosby said that the next time he visited Blanco, she choked him and confronted him about his infidelity. They split up afterward.
Blanco, who was believed to be connected to dozens of murders, including those of her three ex-husbands, was deported to Colombia when she was released from prison in 2004. She was shot to death by a motorcycle rider while exiting a butcher's shop in Medellín, Colombia in September 2012. Blanco was 69 years old.
Cosby, who's still alive, has spoken about their relationship in interviews as well as in his 2021 autobiography "Hustling With the Godmother: My Life and Times With Griselda Blanco."
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