Jennifer Lopez to play cocaine queen for HBO

Jennifer Lopez is set to star as late drug lord Griselda Blanco in an upcoming HBO biopic about the woman known as "The Godmother" and the "Queen of Cocaine," reports the Associated Press.

 

Lopez tells The Hollywood Reporter in a statement that she has "been fascinated by the life of this corrupt and complicated woman for many years." Lopez will also produce the film.

 

Blanco was killed in Colombia in 2012. She was among the first Colombian women to traffic cocaine to the United States in the 1970s and 1980s. She had been deported back to Colombia in 2004 after serving nearly 20 years behind bars in the U.S. for drug trafficking and three drug-related killings.

 

Blanco was a subject of the 2006 documentary "Cocaine Cowboys," which focused on the Miami drug trade.