Jorge Ayala

Jorge Ayala was born in Cali, Colombia but grew up in Chicago. In addition to his mother tongue of Spanish, he also became fluent in English - which he spoke on a native level. Ayala was also born with a distinctive high-pitched voice.[7][8]

While living in Chicago, he started off as a car mechanic for his father at General Motors. He eventually drifted into a criminally oriented direction by stealing cars chop shops across the city. On the side, Ayala would also make money from smuggling Mexican immigrants into United States from which he would bring across the Mexican-American border.[9][10][11]

Ayala was first brought to Miami in 1979 by a job that required him to transport a truck full of used guns from Chicago to Miami.[12] Upon arriving with the shipment, he ended up deciding to live in the state. Ayala started off his criminal career here by simply shaking people down as a "small-time" enforcer.[9]

Ayala was considered to be Griselda Blanco's top enforcer. He led a small crew which helped him carry out various crimes. Rivi's brother, Alonso Ayala, also worked as a sicario for Blanco.[13][14]

Ayala pleaded guilty to three killings in 1993, but was believed to be responsible for roughly three dozen murders that took place throughout the Miami Drug War.[15]

• Jorge Ayala is said to have killed 11 members of Luis Mejia's gang in New York City during the summer of 1981 as well as Mejia's father, Octavio Mejia, in Miami that same year.[21]
• Ayala once told state prosecutors that in 1981 he accepted a $50,000 payment for killing a man for Blanco while her then-3-year-old son, Michael, was in the room.[23]

Jorge Ayala was arrested in connection with a Chicago bank robbery.[24] It was during this time that authorities were also searching for Griselda Blanco's top hitman, whom they only knew by the name of "Riverita". Soon after his capture, they realized that he was the assassin they had been looking for.[8]

Ayala made an agreement with Florida district attorney's office to testify against Griselda Blanco who had been charged with three counts of first-degree murder, but the case fell apart and was ultimately dismissed due to Ayala being involved in phone sex scandal with two secretaries that worked in the state's attorney's office.[25] Ayala pleaded guilty in 1993 to three murders and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. If released, Ayala will be deported to Colombia.[26]

A character based on Ayala, renamed to "Rudy", was briefly featured in Cocaine Godmother, a 2017 TV film loosely based on the life of Griselda Blanco Restrepo.