Summary
- Jorge Rivi Ayala was the right-hand man of the Columbian female drug lord, Griselda Blanco. Both were arrested for their crimes in real life.
- Rivi was charged with more than 20 drug-related murders but could be convicted with only 3 of them. He was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment.
- Rivi is currently serving his 31st year of imprisonment in Florida.
Jorge “Rivi” Ayala is introduced as Griselda Blanco’s, the Columbian female drug lord, right-hand man in the Netflix thriller, Griselda. He was initially working for another drug lord but joined Griselda halfway through the series.
Rivi was more willing to go as far as possible for Griselda than her first husband, Dario. Therefore, the Godmother trusted him the most. However, things go out of hand when Rivi robs a bank to get some money to make a phone call. He gets caught, leading to Griselda’s arrest as well.
After the events of Griselda, Rivi ended up in prison with the Godmother but remained inside for a longer time than she did. Griselda rose to power through the cocaine business in Columbia before shifting her business to Florida. Being one of the few women in the crime world, she had to have a strong grip over people like Rivi.
However, she faces a tragic fate, and all her fellow supporters, including Rivi, go down with her in the end.
In real life, Jorge Ayala was arrested in 1993 and was suspected to be involved in more than 20 drug-related crimes. However, evidence was found to charge him with only three drug-related murders.
Rivi was found guilty of murdering the two-year-old son Jesus Chacho Castro, who died while Rivi tried to kill Griselda’s previous bodyguard on her instructions. Rivi’s other two victims were Alfredo and Grizel Lorenzo, who were killed for delaying one of Griselda’s cocaine shipments.
Rivi murdered the couple while their children were watching TV in another room. All these murders are depicted in the Netflix series as well. In reality, there were only the crimes he could be convicted for, while there are definitely many other murders that he got away with.
The only thing that saved Rivi from getting the death penalty was his willingness to share any information about Griselda Blanco and serve as a witness. However, he was involved in a phone sex scandal with many members of the District Attorney’s office, leading him to be labeled as an unreliable witness. The incident is covered in the Netflix series as well.
As a result, Griselda escaped being charged with many heinous offenses, although Rivi still escaped the death penalty. He was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment. As of today, Rivi is still serving his sentence in Florida today.
As per Griselda’s ending, Blanco was released from prison six years after imprisonment due to failing health. However, Rivi was not so fortunate. He appealed for an early release in 2013, but a Miami-Dade Circuit Judge declined it, declaring his request “untimely.”
He is currently in his 31st year of imprisonment. As per his lawyer, Ayala is likely to die in prison. Although Griselda got away with a lot of her crimes, she was assassinated shortly after her release from prison. Moreover, she also received the tragic news of her son’s death just after release.
Therefore, the fates of Griselda and Rivi are intertwined. Even if Griselda was able to escape legal consequences, poetic justice was delivered to her both in the series and in real life.
About Griselda
Griselda is an American biographical crime drama streaming television miniseries directed by Andrés Baiz and produced by Eric Newman and Sofía Vergara.
It is written by Doug Miro and Ingrid Escajeda. It stars Vergara as Griselda Blanco, a notorious Colombian drug lord. The miniseries premiered on Netflix on January 25, 2024.
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