• Mirtha Calderon was born in Cuba in 1952 and is the former wife of famed drug smuggler George Jung.
• Her net worth is estimated to be over $150,000, largely from her involvement in the development of the 2001 film “Blow”.
• She was involved in Colombia's deeply rooted drug trade and married George Jung in 1977.
• Her marriage to George was addled with drug problems and she was later imprisoned for three years for drug possession.
• Following her divorce, she successfully raised her daughter and is not active on any social media sites.

 

Who is Mirtha Jung?

Mirtha Calderon was born in Cuba, on 3 December 1952, and is best known for being the former wife of famed drug smuggler George Jung. She gained a lot of attention after the film “Blow” was released, giving an insight to her life with her husband during their involvement with the Medellin drug cartel.

The Net Worth of Mirtha Jung

How rich is Mirtha Jung? As of mid-2019, sources inform us of a net worth that is over $150,000, earned through success in her various endeavors.

Most of the wealth she had from her criminal career has been taken back through charges and the addictions she faced, although she later earned significant income through her involvement in the development of “Blow”.

A Life of Crime

There is only a little information regarding Mirtha’s life prior to her association with George – she hasn’t shared details about her family, childhood, and education. It’s only known that sometime during her youth, she became involved with Columbia’s deeply rooted problem with drugs, finding herself locked into the cocaine trade. She was in Colombia when she became a contact for George Jung in the country.

While their love for each other was genuine, it was also addled with drug problems, and like many addiction-filled relationships, it would be the drugs that would start to ruin them both. She continued to consume drugs during her pregnancy despite the advice of her doctors. Sometime after their daughter’s birth, she was imprisoned for three years for drug possession, and during her incarceration she made efforts to remove drugs from her life, for her daughter. In 1981, she was released from prison and apparently gave-up drugs.

Her marriage to Jung allowed her and her child to move to the US without much of a problem.

Husband – George Jung

During the peak of George’s drug smuggling career, he was known as El Americano and Boston George. He became a major figure in the cocaine trade in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. He was a part of the Medellin Cartel, which was responsible for the majority of the cocaine which reached the US during that time. He specialized in smuggling cocaine from Colombia on a large scale, becoming the only middle man between the two countries.

He reportedly made millions out of the operation, carrying 300 kilograms of the drug for each single-engined airplane trip he made. He was supposedly earning $3 to $5 million per day, and keeping his money in the national bank of Panama. However, in 1987 he was arrested in his home on Nauset Beach, but skipped bail and was quickly involved in another deal, that eventually led to him spending nearly two decades in jail. After his release, he worked a few normal jobs before becoming involved in the drug industry again, subsequently spending time in prison from 2014 to 2016. He returned home the following year.

Blow

Blow” was released in 2001, starring Johnny Depp as Jung and Penelope Cruz as Mirtha, and is a biographical film about George Jung, based on the 1993 book entitled “Blow: How a Small Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellin Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All”. It also takes inspiration from the real life stories of Carlos Lehder Rivas, Pablo Escobar, and the Medellin Cartel. The name of the film is based on the slang term for cocaine, and is the final work of director Ted Demme. The film used songs from the 1970s, but performed below expectations at the box office. It had a budget of around $53 million and managed to recoup $83 million internationally.

Many critics noted that the film had a lot of formulas seen before, with the only exception the excellent performance by Johnny Depp. Cruz did not receive a good review for her acting in the film, gaining a nomination for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress. Other critics stated that Jung seemed to be glorified and self-centered in the portrayal, but ultimately he was just another name in between dealers and victims, not even thinking about the consequences of his actions.

Blow

Personal Life and Social Media

For her personal life, it is known that Mirtha married George in 1977 after dating for a year. He is 10 years older than her – she was 24 years old when they first met. Their daughter was born a year later, but drugs proved to be the biggest detriment to their success in marriage. Following their divorce, he later married Ronda Clay Spinello, but it’s unknown if Mirtha settled with someone else later on. Mirtha raised their daughter on her own, and managed to do so successfully as her daughter now has a family of her own.

During the time of the film’s release, her popularity increased somewhat as she became connected with Penelope Cruz. She appeared during the film’s promotion, and even did an interview for a newspaper in Texas. One of the reasons why there is very limited information about her current endeavors is due to the lack of any presence on major social media websites such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. There are accounts that share the same name, but are not related to her in any way.

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