Bob Palombo – DEA Agent Who Captured Griselda Blanco

In the final episode of Season 3, Giovanni and Dutch sit down with former Drug Enforcement Administration Associate Special Agent in Charge Bob Palombo. In a rare media appearance, Palombo details his impressive four-decade-long career with the DEA. From New York City street cases to multi-agency investigations like Operation Banshee, Palombo explains how relentless surveillance helped piece together a sprawling Colombian cocaine conspiracy — until one name on the indictment stood out: Griselda Blanco. 

About Bob Palombo:

Bob Palombo was working as a substitute teacher in the early 1970s when he was hired and sworn in as a Bureau of Customs agent in New York City. In 1973, just as the Drug Enforcement Administration was created, Palombo was on the front lines. New York's Operation Banshee, was the start of Palombo’s decade-long hunt for the Cocaine Godmother Griselda Blanco. But just as quickly as Blanco had come onto his radar, she had escaped to Miami. Nine years later, as Palombo was reassigned to the Miami office, he caught his second chance at Blanco. He and his dedicated team tracked Blanco through her sons, who were living in California, and in 1985 successfully apprehended her. After the Blanco case, Palombo continued to serve his country, first as the special agent in charge of the Cleveland DEA office, then deputy special agent in charge of the New York DEA office and later as the DEA’s attaché in Australia.

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