Characters / Better Call Saul: Cartel

aka: Better Call Saul Lalo Salamanca

Main Character Index | Breaking Bad
Lawyers (Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman, Kim Wexler, Chuck McGill), Law Enforcement, Juarez Cartel, Los Pollos Hermanos, Omaha, Petty Criminals, Other Characters

A page for characters affiliated with the Juarez Cartel, a powerful drug trafficking organization in a tenous partnership with Gustavo Fring. For the rest of the cartel members as depicted in Breaking Bad, click here.

Core

Leadership

Eladio Vuente

See here.

Juan Bolsa

See here.

The Salamanca Family

Hector Salamanca

See here.

Lalo Salamanca

Eduardo "Lalo" Salamanca / "Jorge de Guzman" / "Ben"

Portrayed By: Tony Dalton

Appearances: Better Call Saul

"You wanna be a friend of the cartel? Time to get yourself a new motto: 'Just Make Money.'"

"I'd just like to hear the story. I mean, I paid a lot of money for that story, so... I think I can hear it as much as I want."

A cheery, yet frighteningly effective operator in the Juárez Cartel and nephew of Don Hector. As noted by Juan Bolsa, Lalo is not in New Mexico on any assigned cartel business, but instead traveled over to monitor Gus Fring of his own will after his uncle's stroke.

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• Accidental Misnaming: While it's meaningful (showing just how into the life she's getting, and how it suddenly stops being any kind of comfort), Lalo either doesn't know or care that Saul Goodman isn't Jimmy's actual name, so will call Kim "Mrs Goodman".
• The Ace: He is by far the smartest and most resourceful of the Salamancas, having little in the way of eccentricities to slow him down. Put it this way: Gustavo Fring fears Lalo, whereas he is condescending or mocking to the rest of his family.
• Actually Pretty Funny: After getting shot in the throat by Fring, Lalo smiles and laughs before dying, seemingly impressed that Fring managed to outsmart him.
• Alas, Poor Villain: After all the effort he put through in his gambit, it can be quite sad to see him meet his end at Gus' hands without being able to protect his remaining family and the cartel, especially since his Undying Loyalty to his uncle got him killed when he refused to kill Gus and instead tried to force him into a confession. In-Universe his uncle Hector has a silent Villainous Breakdown after hearing of his death.
• All for Nothing: His quest in Season 5 and 6 to uncover what Gus's up to initially goes very well, with Lalo learning about the would-be superlab and infiltrating it, but it soon goes up in smoke as Gus managed to see him coming and kills him and buries him in the superlab, thus ensuring Hector and the Cartel would never know about the superlab until it's too late.
• Ambiguously Bi: In an interview, Tony Dalton says he thinks Lalo "has a little thing for Mike." However, Lalo also gushes to Jimmy about how attractive he finds his wife.
• Animal Motif: Lalo gives off a lot of cat-like vibes, with his cool and calculating personality, his nocturnal lifestyle, and his rather impressive agility. He once managed to climb into a ceiling and crash out into another room without even stumbling, and on another occasion jumped at least seven feet off a cliff and landed onto a totaled car, without even a shred of hesitation. He also has a sadistic streak and likes to toy with his victims, and on one occasion he even torments Kim and Jimmy's goldfish as a cat might.
• Ascended Extra: Lalo was a series guest during his time in Season 4. He was promoted to series regular in Season 5 where he takes up the role of the main character to fill in for the main Cartel threat.
• Assassin Outclassin': In Something Unforgivable when Gus sends a team of hitmen to assassinate Lalo and anyone who resided in his compound. Lalo manages to pick out, surprise, and kill every assassin in the raid, something that ends up terrifying Gus.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: He takes control of Nacho's portion of the operation and is very badass, able to repel a whole contingent of Gus' forces in the Season 5 finale.
• Avenging the Villain: He takes over Hector's operation after he suffers a heart attack, and more specifically continues Hector's grudge to ruin Gus Fring.
• Ax-Crazy: Although he is much, much more level-headed and sociable than the rest of his family, he has huge shades of this. He even seems to be self-aware enough to recognize he's a bit loony, apologizing to Bolsa claiming it's Hector's influence on him that makes him do crazy things.
• Bad Boss: Seemingly subverted despite initially terrifying people with his newfound presence. Lalo is laid back and quite friendly compared to Hector and Tuco despite assuming their charge of Nacho and his operations. He's no Benevolent Boss by any means, but he does not go out of his way to instill fear in his subordinates. However, he still doesn't care about his employees, reacting to situations in which they are endangered like he was watching a TV show.
  • He's genuinely friendly with the staff and guards of his mansion in Chihuahua, who are implied to have been in his service for many years. Though not so friendly he won't, in a pinch, use one as a Bulletproof Human Shield.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: It's more like "Disturbing Animals" than anything, but he decides to tap on Jimmy's fish tank a second time when the latter warns that it upsets the fish. It's clear that Lalo is only doing it just to get a kick out of annoying Jimmy.
• Bait the Dog:
  • When he is introduced, the way he tries to feed Nacho tacos suggests he poisoned it and is testing his character. Nacho adamantly refuses the food. However, it is later revealed this is seemingly not the case, as Lalo cooks as a hobby and has proper lunch with Nacho later on.
  • In Wine and Roses, he arrives at a local couple's place to patch up his wounds. He's on amicable terms with them, who pay respect to him as "Don Eduardo". They mention in passing how Lalo has been funding Mateo's dental plan and keeping small talk with his wife about the farm. It's then shown he intends to use them as part of his plan to fake his death, killing them both and using their corpses to set the scene.
• Batman Gambit: Sending Kim Wexler to kill Gus. While Lalo would doubtless be glad if this succeeds, the real intent is to keep Mike and Gus' men busy while Lalo investigates the underground meth lab. As Kim believes Jimmy is being held hostage, she complies, not knowing that Lalo just tied Jimmy up and left.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: He is as arrogant and cocky as your average Mexican Drug Lord, but he is also the quieter and less extravagant of the Salamancas. He is also clearly the cleverest and most dangerous of the bunch. Remarkably, while Gus Fring shows nothing but contempt for the other members of the family, he is so worried by Lalo’s presence north of the US-Mexico border that he immediately puts his plan to throw them out of the drug market on hold and, as soon as Lalo heads home, he sends an assassination squad after him. When he finds out that Lalo has survived the attempt against his life, Gus is so afraid that he sets up a massive operation to protect his own life and find him.
• Big Bad: Takes over this role from the end of season 4 onward, being the major threat to almost every main character. His death and the aftermath results in the timeline of BCS getting moved closer to the beginning of Breaking Bad, once the conflict centered around him is resolved, and the impact of his actions on the main characters still loom large even in the post-BB period.
• Bluff the Eavesdropper: Lalo makes a call to Casa Tranquila asking to speak to Hector, but hears a clicking sound during the hold music which indicates the line is being bugged. After taking out his anger at the realization, he calls again and when he reaches Hector, falsely claims that he couldn't find any proof against Gus and is resorting to "Plan A", causing Mike and Gus to scramble for safety. When in actuality, he's going to pay a visit to his lawyers...
• Big Eater: Lalo is almost always seen munching on snacks or cooking food mostly for himself.
• Body Double: Lalo turns out to have one of these, funding the dental plans for a local farmhand to make their records match, while the couple remains unaware of his true intentions for helping them. Before he kills him, Lalo recommends he shave his facial hair in a style similar to his.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: How he ultimately meets his end. Despite holding Gus at gunpoint, admitting how cunning he is, and already having all the footage to incriminate him, Lalo cannot resist the monologuing and Evil Gloating over his victory. He even gives Gus an opportunity to have one minute for some final words. Unsurprisingly, this doesn't end well for him. This is in fact justified by the Insider Podcast, as Lalo let Gus speak in order to incriminate himself as much as possible before killing him so as to not risk Don Eladio's wrath.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: His henchmen have to put up with some odd behavior at some points. Even then, he's arguably the Salamanca with the most guile and success, not to mention that combining his intellect and resourcefulness with sheer ferocity makes him a challenge to Gus, something no other Salamanca has achieved.
  Lalo: Werner Ziiiiiiiiiiieglerrr...
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: It takes Jimmy a while to jog Lalo's memory on Fred Whalen. You know, the random innocent bystander that he murdered. Likewise, though he doesn't comment on it (or indeed remain alive for long afterwards), it's made clear that he doesn't consider executing Howard in cold blood in front of Jimmy and Kim to be in any way noteworthy, not even bothering to look straight at him as he casually shoots him in the head. In contrast, Howard's death would proceed to haunt Jimmy and Kim for the rest of their lives, to the point that Jimmy partially became 'Saul Goodman' as a coping mechanism.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: "Point and Shoot". If he hadn't wanted to know what really happened in the desert, Kim would have come back to see Jimmy's corpse right next to Howard's.
• Character Shilling: Downplayed but present. Lalo's first appearance has him quite affable and outgoing, but everyone's terrified of him. It's not for several episodes before we see why.
• The Charmer: Lalo has his way with the words and can appear very charming and gentlemanly, sexy even when required. He demonstrates this perfectly when he manages to charm Werner Ziegler's widow for information.
• Character Tic: Whenever someone ends up peeking around whatever he's doing, he shoos them away with a wave of his hands.
• The Chessmaster: Taking over for Hector, he starts to undermine Gus Fring's operation by sabotaging his profits. Lalo is the one to setup Krazy-8 as a DEA informant by getting him to give away details on the money drops which costs Gustavo one million dollars. All for gaining Don Eladio's favor and turning him against Gus. After the failed assassination attempt on his life, he gets one of the men to report they succeeded.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Having survived an attack that left the residents of his compound dead and having been betrayed by Nacho, Lalo expresses his rage by throwing out a volley of insults towards Don Eladio, Bolsa, and every other leader of the cartel in Spanish whilst at the phone with Hector as well as announcing his intent to kill Gus.
• Combat Pragmatist: Unlike Hector, Lalo has absolutely no problem with siccing the DEA on his enemy.
• Connected All Along: When Lalo was first namedropped as a Cryptic Background Reference in Breaking Bad, his last name wasn't mentioned - its only in Better Call Saul that he's revealed to be a Salamanca.
• The Corruptor: In a sense. He doesn't set out intending to do anything like it, but him forcing Jimmy to become his legal representative after realizing how skilled he is as a lawyer and getting him more immersed in the cartel lifestyle goes as long way towards building Jimmy's reputation as a Criminal Lawyer once "Jorge de Guzman's" identity is revealed in the aftermath, many of Jimmy's co-workers in the legal system refusing to associate with him after he successfully defended a notorious drug lord and unrepentant murderer, and many petty criminals likewise coming to him for aid because of how he got a high-profile criminal out of jail despite a ton of evidence. Similarly, he casually executes Howard as a accidental witness to him still being alive when he turns shows up at Jimmy's apartment intending to enlist him in his plans to outwit Gus and his men. Whilst it's made clear he didn't even give Howard a second place, his murder of him right in front of them destroys Jimmy and Kim out of their guilt over their scam putting Howard in the wrong place at the wrong time. Kim eventually quits the legal profession altogether and leaves Albuquerque out of her self-loathing, and without her, Jimmy embraces his 'Saul goodman' persona for good as a coping mechanism to deal with his own emotional trauma from the incident. Notably, it's made bluntly clear that Lalo didn't think about how his actions would affect Jimmy one way or another, merely using him for his own gain, but his association with Jimmy is still a major reason why 'Saul Goodman' came to be.
• Crazy-Prepared: He has a lot of drug money stashed just in case he needs to bail himself out of prison or bribe Eladio. He also made sure to have an escape route in his compound just in case someone gets by the security gates. He has also arranged for a local man to have identical records to his in case he needs a body double. In fact, he's so well prepared to fake his own death, than when he dies for real, there's no definitive proof left to say he died under different circumstances, enabling Gus to get away with his death without bothering to even defend himself.
• Creepy Souvenir: He once assisted Hector in torturing a hotel owner for disrespecting the two of them and burning the man to death and his hotel down, keeping a desk bell as a souvenir of the ordeal. Lalo gives the bell as a present to Hector as a symbol to assert himself despite his condition, and Hector used it for the rest of his life.
• Cruelty by Feet: As the last remaining assassin crawls out of his home, Lalo stops the remaining one by stomping on his hand.
• Cultured Badass: He's the greatest physical threat from the Salamanca family and is a great cook.
• Cutting the Knot: When Lalo is in hot pursuit of a lead, he will go from point A to point B in a straight line, cutting straight through whatever unlucky soul is in his way in the process, regardless of their life or possible future repercussions to himself. Howard winds up being a victim of this mentality, along with several others, including innocent bystanders.
• Dashing Hispanic: Not under normal circumstances, but his interactions with Margarethe Ziegler show that he's capable of playing the part when he needs to.
• Deadpan Snarker: Lalo is such a very laid-back and sarcastic guy that he could almost come off as friendly if it weren't for his homicidal tendencies. When asked by Jimmy where to look for the well he says, "It looks like a well. It's the only one there".
• Death Glare: A Salamanca trademark. He gives a good one to an assassin he headshots and a really harrowing one once he takes out the assassins who raided his private home and makes his way to the exit.
• Defensive Feint Trap: During the raid perpetrated by Gus in his Chihuahua mansion, he escapes the hitmen and prepares to exit via a hidden tunnel in his compound's bathroom, but chooses to leave the hatch open to lure the assassins to this location. Once he makes it to the other side, he circles back in and catches one of the gunmen off-guard. With the last of them still traversing the tunnel, he sprays them with one of their own rifles.
• Determinator: Rather than escape, he goes back to kill all the assassins that attacked his estate despite being wounded.
• Didn't See That Coming: For as clever and observant as he is, he had no idea that Nacho was slowly building up his trust to betray him, nor did he know that Nacho was working in Gus' favor the whole time. He also didn't know that during his partnership with Saul, the DEA, namely Hank Schrader and Steve Gomez got involved with their case.
  • He also did not know about the trap Gus had set for him in the Superlab site in the form of a strategically placed power cord and a hidden gun. Thanks to a bit of Bond Villain Stupidity and quick acting by Gus, this ultimately leads to his demise.
• Die Laughing: He dies chuckling to himself about how Gus was able to get the drop on him.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Played with; he dies in the first episode of Season 6B, well before the end of the series, but the following episode features a Time Skip, making him effectively the Final Boss of the show's run as a prequel to Breaking Bad. The remaining episodes thereafter mainly deal with the ramifications his casual murder of Howard had on Jimmy and Kim by the present-day, especially once Jimmy can no longer use 'Saul Goodman' as a coping mechanism anymore.
• Dissonant Serenity: Most noticeable when he kills Howard with hardly any warning. Saul and Kim are shocked and horrified to see their former law senior drop dead in an instant and are loudly panicking. Lalo, on the other hand, tries to hush them so he can have a talk, almost like a parent who is trying to calm down their child. In fact, the shot from behind while Howard's falling shows that he wasn't even looking at Howard when he pulled the trigger.
• The Dreaded: Of all the members of the Salamanca family, Lalo is easily the scariest. His mere presence is enough to frighten even the most seasoned of characters.
  • Krazy-8 and the El Michoacano cook are left completely terrified by Lalo's presence when Nacho first encounters him. Nacho himself is also wary of Lalo, and immediately is put on edge when Lalo unexpectedly stays up late and nearly screws up his plan to let Gustavo's men in through the Salamanca family's back door.
  • While he doesn't express it as outwardly as everyone else, it's clear that Lalo definitely frightens Mike to some extent, as he becomes increasingly more stressed as Lalo constantly manages to outmaneuver his tactics for catching/killing him.
  • Both Jimmy and Kim are both incredibly unnerved by Lalo when they first encounter him separately, and practically shit themselves in sheer terror when he suddenly shows up at their door on two occasions. Jimmy's fear of the man later becomes cemented after he kills Howard Hamlin right in front of him, eventually becoming so scared shitless of Lalo that years later when Walt and Jesse threaten him in the desert, he will assume Lalo has come to kill him.
  • From the moment they meet, Lalo manages to put even Gustavo Fring himself on edge, to the point where he treats him far more cautiously than any other Salamanca. When he realizes that Lalo survived an assassination attempt, Gustavo proceeds to turn into a Nervous Wreck about it, clearly terrified that he may pop back up at any second.
• Establishing Character Moment: Lalo is introduced cooking in the kitchen of the restaurant he conducts business out of while loudly blasting Mexican music; when Nacho walks in, he immediately offers him the plate of food he just made, even encouraging him to smell it. When Nacho declines it, he reveals that it was a Secret Test of Character and commends his intelligence, then proceeds to basically take over his job while saying "it's like I won't even be here". Meanwhile, Krazy-8's out front looking too scared to even flinch. All of this establishes that for as casual and charismatic as Lalo can act, he is far more intelligent than the average Salamanca all while being no less dangerous to be around.
• Et Tu, Brute?: As Kim points out, Lalo didn't trust anyone north of the border, but did decide to give Nacho a shot at "being a Salamanca." The look on Lalo's face changes once he figures out Nacho is partly responsible for getting everyone in his estate killed.
• "Eureka!" Moment: A villainous example; he realizes that Jimmy should be his next target in Plan and Execution after witnessing a cockroach on a pipe, having previously likened Jimmy to a cockroach in Bagman.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • Hector is a very important father figure to Lalo. Lalo has a lot of empathy for his uncle, the only person he has those types of feelings for. He gave Hector his infamous bell and recites Hector's creed of "family is everything" as a goodbye. Leaving him at the end of season 5 was emotionally hard on Lalo. You could really see on Lalo's face that he didn't want to disappoint Hector.
  • He shows concern for Tuco's well-being, commenting that upon his release from prison they'll make sure he stays clean from drugs. He also calls Leonel and Marco "good boys" when describing them to Jimmy.
  • He looks genuinely furious when his staff is killed during the attempt on his life. Later, when he has Gus at gunpoint, he specifically calls him out for being responsible for their deaths, and his tone indicates that he really means it.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • While he's usually the one provoking this response in others, he does, amazingly enough, provide a genuine example when he's legitimately upset and enraged that employees at his compound were killed in an attempt on his life, implying that even Lalo isn't totally without some kind of morality, however twisted and self-serving it might be.
  • He reimburses the illegal immigrants for their trouble when he shoots the cocky smugglers down, a sharp contrast to how his cousins murdered everyone in the truck they were hiding in before blowing it up in Breaking Bad.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
  • Yet another feature he shares with the rest of the Salamancas. Just as Hector cannot understand why Nacho would want to keep his father out of the game, Lalo, for all his intelligence, takes a surprisingly long time to work out why Kim would simply want to know where Jimmy is to bring him back. He even has some difficulty saying, "You love him," as if he's astounded anyone would do something so risky solely out of love for another person, which also underscores his hypocrisy because he's willing to put himself in danger to protect the Salamancas' interests against Gus.
  • In "Point and Shoot", assumes Kim will just run "because she's really clever" even with her husband's life at stake. Kim and Jimmy's Undying Loyalty is, at this point, their sole good trait.
• Evil Genius: Lalo is the ideas man of the Salamancas, who uses his intelligence and cunning to overcome obstacles when most of his relatives opt for simple force. He's also, by his own account, "good with numbers" and displays resourcefulness as well as considerable deductive talents, such as figuring out that Gus is involved in extracurricular business outside that of the main Juárez Cartel. There's also his plan to chip away at Gus' business by having Krazy-8 rat out Gus' low-level dealers to the DEA until Don Eladio no longer thinks Gus is worth the trouble. He is the only Cartel member that Gus is unable to run mental circles around and the only reason he has anything close to an upper hand is because of Nacho.
• Evil Is Petty:
  • When Fred refuses to tell Lalo important information previously told to Mike regarding Werner's whereabouts, his response is to sneak up the ceiling tiles, crash down behind him and kill him, then burn down the building after the fact.
  • He gets Nacho to burn down one of Gustavo's chicken restaurants and the morning after while reading about it in the newspaper hysterically, Jimmy asks what's so funny... he responds "you wouldn't get it."
  • During "Point and Shoot", he takes no small satisfaction in shutting up his mouthy ex-lawyer, making sure to zip tie him to the chair as tight as possible, and promising to come back so Jimmy can tell him all about what happened in the desert.
• Evil Versus Evil: Much like Hector beforehand, he himself is engaged in one against Gustavo Fring, continuing the latter's crusade for vengeance against the latter's family and cartel business. That said, it's more pronounced and serious on Gus's side as Lalo is the only one in his family to not just outgambit Gus on a few occasions, but also strike fear and nervousness toward him. He also seems to have some history and bad blood with a peruvian cartel led by a man named Alvarez, with it being serious enough for Gus and Nacho to put the blame on Alvarez for the assassination attempt on Lalo, and for at least Bolsa and the twins to believe in his guilt.
• Evil Virtues: Loyalty to the Salamancas, especially Hector. To a lesser extent, too, Lalo shows odd moments of caring for others, such as the immigrants on the truck, to Werner's wife, and to the civilians on his estate. This only serves to underscore how evil Lalo is, however, given that he's still willing to kill such people if it benefits him.
• Expy: Tony Dalton based his portrayal of Lalo on Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction, making him a Faux Affably Evil Consummate Professional hitman who can switch between being friendly and easygoing to murderous and scary in an instant, much like Jules does depending on whether he's on or off the job.
• Faking the Dead: He forces one of the assassins hired to kill him to report the job was successful. Leaving Gus and everyone to believe he is dead.
• Fatal Flaw: Being a Sadist and basically being a Salamanca. For all his Genius Bruiser qualities he's a Salamanca through and through and he wouldn't screw himself over so much if he didn't bully Jimmy McGill or indulge in Evil Gloating when he has Gustavo Fring cornered, the latter of which proves to be his undoing.
• Faux Affably Evil: Unlike the other Salamanca men shown in the series, who constantly reveal themselves to be blunt, threatening, and vicious, Lalo gives the appearance of a genuinely friendly, easygoing, and all-in-all "normal" guy. He seems to be aware of this, and how it can be used as a tool to control others: for all the many times when he shows kindness and mercy or doesn't immediately resort to violent tactics, there are just as many other times where he's exceptionally cruel and uses violence without a second thought. This leaves everyone constantly guessing if he means what he's saying to them, or if he's just putting on an act for the moment, when the reality is that he can turn off his human empathy like a light switch if it benefits him.
• Fiery Cover-Up: One of his treasured memories with Hector is the time they tortured a hotel owner in his own business and burnt his place down in revenge for him showing "disrespect", proving he's a Salamanca through and through. He also does this to Fred Whalen and the TravelWire, as revealed in Season 5.
• Foil:
  • Lalo has many traits in common with his fellow Salamanca players, but also differs from them:
    • To Tuco: Both crime bosses are underlings of their uncle Hector. Both enjoyed cooking. However Tuco is a hammer with violence as the weapon of choice, Lalo is a scalpel, precise, stealthy & effective. Tuco is violently unhinged and makes no effort to hide it. Lalo is Faux Affably Evil and masks his unsavory nature behind politeness and easy smiles. He still explodes when he is outplayed; but quickly refocuses, unlike Tuco, who tended to dwell.
    • To Hector: Their first scene together has them reminiscing and laughing about a hotel they burned down showing that deep down, they are both violent sociopaths. However, Hector was a Politically Incorrect Villain, a Hate Sink and a bit of has-been in the Cartel that nobody likes In-Universe. Lalo acts charming, Nice to the Waiter, is professionally respected by Don Eladio and uses it well to his advantage.
    • To the twins: The twins and Lalo are both reinforcement to Hector during a difficult time and they are both effective at their job. However, the twins are almost entirely silent muscle who are used only to intimidate or kill. Lalo is a chatty, gregarious intelligence operative investigating the threat of Gus Fring. The twins also murder everyone in a smuggling operation when one person notices their expensive shoes, to keep their identities secret; Lalo, in a similar situation, instead apologizes for the trouble and gives everyone their money back, even though he's trying to lay low at the time.
  • He's also one for Gus. Both of them are intelligent, perceptive, and scheming prominent figures in the cartel with close ties to Hector Salamanca. They share the idea of hiding their true sinister natures behind smiles and an accommodating presence. However, Lalo works for the best interests of the cartel and his uncle, whereas Gus is secretly planning the organization's and Hector's downfall. Lalo dresses flashy while Gus opts for suits and other formal wear. Lalo's cheery demeanor tends to still be unnerving; others are more comfortable around Gus' calmer public persona. The former yields a high ranking or at least demands respect in the criminal empire as the latter will never be, as Bolsa puts it, "one of us."
  • Towards Nacho. The light conversation they share before Lalo's compound is attacked contrasts them. Just as Lalo prefers to remain awake during the night, he thrives as a criminal and as a Salamanca. Nacho would rather be asleep and leave the cartel forever, and he especially doesn't want to "be a Salamanca" as Lalo would have it.
• Functional Addict: He snorts meth enough to distinguish between the cartel's product and outside dealers, but he is very sane and functional compared to Tuco.
• Gay Bravado: He's more attracted to Kim than he is to Jimmy, but that doesn't stop him from making a lot of innuendo about Jimmy being a whore or good with his mouth, seemingly just to enjoy watching him squirm.
• Genius Bruiser: Lalo is clearly the most dangerous member of the Salamanca family (and perhaps the entire Cartel) because he combines devious cunning with an ability to handle himself in combat.
• Gone Horribly Right: The painstaking effort he goes to in order to fake his death, down to having a body double with matching dental records killed and burned to make it look as though he was dead to the Cartel, ultimately works against him when Gus Fring succeeds in actually killing him. With Hector being the only person he spoke to and no other proof of his survival, Eladio is content to dismiss Hector's accusations against Fring so he can avoid having to dispose of a good earner.
• Go Out with a Smile: He dies right after smiling, complete with blood gushing out from his mouth.
• Graceful Loser: As he's bleeding out from losing his shootout to Gus, he only finds the tables turning amusing and uses his last breath to laugh it off.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Plays this along with Chuck. Long after his death his presence is still vividly felt as the trauma he inflicted on Jimmy and Kim proves to be the final straw that pushes the series into the Breaking Bad timeline and the pain and suffering that would come from it.
• Gut Feeling: He has very strong instincts. Enough to see through every deception that Gus throws at him. He even knows to interrogate his lawyer for why it took so long bringing the bail money guessing something happened. He was entirely right of course and would have killed Jimmy if not for Kim's convincing performance which was helped by herself not knowing the details from Jimmy.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Played with. Unlike with Hector and Tuco, Lalo is more calm and collected but he has his moments when it comes to losing his cool too, notably when things don't go his way and he ends up feeling outsmarted by someone else. This is noticeable twice in the series: first time when he is stuck in a parking lot after Mike jams the parking lot exit with bubble gum wrap and he rams the car in front of him. The second time happens when he realizes that Gus has tapped Hector's phone in the nursery home and he ends up smashing a chair in a fit of rage. However, Lalo is just as quick to regain his composure as well and he never gets his temper get the better of him.
• He's Just Hiding: In-universe, both subverted and played straight. Lalo successfully fakes his death at the beginning of Season 6 using Mateo's identical dental records, with only Hector, Jimmy, Kim, Gus, and Mike knowing otherwise or finding out afterward; several episodes later, he is dead, but because of the mysterious circumstances surrounding his actual murder (and only Gus witnessing it), the reality of it is put into question. Jimmy is so frightened of Lalo that he's later shown to have not believed Mike's word, and Eladio is skeptical of the genuine evidence Hector gives him — especially since the Cousins weren't let in on the secret or present with the fake body, so he has no inclination not to believe that Lalo's either been dead the whole time or potentially up to his tricks again.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The Stupid Evil acts of murder and road rage Lalo would commit while pursuing Werner easily leads to his incarceration.
  • His actions in faking his own death also backfire when Hector tries to accuse Gus of the assault on Lalo's hacienda. Since nobody but Hector had spoken with him while he was lying low, there was no proof he'd survived the hit attempt. This, combined with the matching body double and the forged evidence to accuse the Los Odios Peruvians, has Don Eladio ultimately dismiss Hector's accusations as bitterness.
• Hidden Depths: You wouldn't expect a member of a bloodthirsty cartel organization, and one of its most ruthless members, to not just be a culinary enthusiast, but also an above-average cook and place a bigger emphasis on this interest than Tuco does. He's also quite knowledgeable about cars and engines as he is seen tending to one of his car's engines.
• Hollywood Silencer: Downplayed. When he a silencer to lower the volume of his gun to shoot Howard in the head, it still makes a loud sound, but it quickly subsides and doesn't echo like the gunshots he used on Gus' men.
• Horrifying the Horror: Lalo is on the giving end of this trope. It's even more impressive in that he inflicts this towards Gustavo Fring, of all people when Lalo manages to evade his assassination attempt and kill all of his aggressors. Once Gus finds out about Lalo's survival, he starts acting like a Nervous Wreck, something that is very unusual for Gus. Fring once memorably stared down a sniper during an active shooting. Given that Lalo has both the Salamanca ruthlessness and the brains needed to actually see through Gus's plans and identify suspicious activities in his operations to uncover his plans for the Superlab, Gus is right to be worried. In fact, despite all his precautions, Lalo ultimately out-maneuvers both Gus and Mike despite his comparative lack of resources and has Gus dead to rights in the Superlab's construction grounds, requiring an uncharacteristic gamble from Gus that come down to mainly luck —something he atypically avoids— for him to finally end Lalo's menace. It says a lot that Lalo came closer than anybody else in the Cartel to stopping Gus, and how Gus is never shown having as much difficulty dealing with the rest of his family as he did with him.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: By the events of Breaking Bad, four years after his death, the once-powerful shadow he left has largely faded, with the Cartel accepting the false narrative surrounding his death as true and moving on, as well as Albuquerque forgetting about him despite his moment of city-wide infamy after posting a ludicrous bail. In Season 6's "Better Call Saul", Jesse Pinkman claims to have never heard of him despite having known at least one of his associates.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Despite being one of the show's main villains, Lalo doesn't actually debut until late into Season 4 of Better Call Saul. Even more extreme as this was 10 years after being given a name drop in some throwaway dialogue in Season 2 of Breaking Bad.
• Impromptu Tracheotomy: How Lalo meets his end, via a well-aimed gunshot from Gus.
• In a Single Bound: Rather inexplicably, Lalo has jumping abilities that border on the superhuman. In the TravelWire, he manages to leap into the ceiling so quickly and silently that Fred Whalen doesn't even hear him, and then jumps down on the other side of the barrier, landing perfectly on his feet. Later on, he leaps from a cliff to land on Jimmy's wrecked car - a jump that by all rights ought to break his ankles.
• The Insomniac: He barely sleeps at all, maybe for two hours on average. Unlike most examples, he appears to be perfectly functional, and he admits that his best ideas come to him while everyone is asleep. Nacho, in contrast, doesn't seem to think this is so great.
• I Surrender, Suckers: After having one of his ribs shattered from Casper's axe, Lalo pretends to have given up fighting and falsely admits his reasons for meeting him. While showing Casper a card to lure him closer, Lalo takes his chance to slash Casper with a razor blade in the face.
• In the Back: For the assassins following him through the tunnel he once used to escape out of his home, Lalo returns at the very back of the tunnel entrance to shoot down the assassins that are looking for the tunnel exit.
• It's Personal: He's after Gus due to suspicions over what he might be planning to do to Hector and the cartel. This intensifies once he realizes Gus, with Nacho's help, was responsible for attacking his home estate and murdering everyone there. Despite his direct involvement, however, Lalo views Nacho as little more than one of Gus's pawns and makes no moves to find him despite having the advantages of knowing the area and faking his death. He instead places all his energy into finding concrete evidence of Gus's meth superlab so he can turn the cartel against Gus once and for all.
• Kick the Dog:
  • His unnecessary murder of Fred Whalen certainly qualifies as this.
  • He reminisces with Hector about a time the two of them tied up and tortured a hotel owner simply for insulting them, before burning his hotel down. He even kept a souvenir: the bell, which he then gives to Hector.
  • His murder of Howard Hamlin is quite possibly the most horrifying example in the entire franchise. Howard had no idea who Lalo was and was extremely drunk, making it highly unlikely that he'd even remember or report a mere "client" of Jimmy's to the police. Nevertheless, Lalo blows his brains out anyway to send a very clear message to Jimmy and Kim.
• Knight of Cerebus: Once he shows up, the show gets exponentially darker, as both the body count starts increasing and Gus ends up challenged by his planning. The finale of Season 5 firmly sets him as this by the end. His murder of Howard Hamlin is the final nail in the coffin of Better Call Saul timeline, as it finishes the journey of Jimmy into Saul, leading to the events of Breaking Bad.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: While he is around as vicious as Tuco, he's lucid enough to realize circumstances where he's clearly at a disadvantage. Best shown in Goodman V Wexler when Lalo prepares to brandish a pistol when he sees the police, but upon the arrival of more police cars, he allows himself to be arrested without much assistance.
• Lack of Empathy: Lalo feels so little empathy that, even while staring down the victim's grieving family, he doesn't care to remember Fred Whalen's name.
• Laughably Evil: His behavior is horrifying, but he can be so nonchalant about it that it crosses into this.
  • A notable case ensues when Saul questions him about Fred Whalen, and Lalo reacts like he genuinely doesn't know what Saul is talking about, despite that that it was Lalo who killed Fred.
    Saul: That's gotta be his family. Fred Whalen.
    Lalo: [stares in complete incomprehension]
    Saul: The guy who died... at the TravelWire?
    Lalo: [casually] Mm.
• Long Last Look: He gives one to Hector after saying goodbye when he is forced to return to Mexico. Possibly giving further depth to their relationship.
• Loved by All: The Salamanca family within the greater Cartel are usually treated like the whiny associates nobody really likes; however Lalo is so damned charismatic that an entire party of hardened criminals will stop to greet him, the prostitutes present are actually swooning over him and Don Eladio giddily treats his arrival as if they were close brothers.
• Made of Iron: He was able to somehow withstand having an ax swung onto his ribs. Although Lalo was injured, it didn't deter him at all, instead going all-offensive at his aggressor, Casper, as repaying him back by using his ax to chop off Casper's left leg. Through this, Lalo just comments on his injury rather nonchalantly.
  Lalo: "I think you broke one of my ribs!"
• Man of Wealth and Taste: As well as dressing very nicely he also appears to appreciate the finer things in life, such as classic cars and good food. His compound in Chihuahua, while secure and practical, is also very tastefully decorated. He even shuns tequila in favor of fine cognac^note Rémy Martin Louis XIII, the most expensive cognac in the world- served from a crystal decanter, naturally.
• Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: Lalo's cell is just a small room he shares with another inmate, but his connections allow him to handle things from the inside with a smuggled mobile phone. Mike lampshades this, pointing out that Lalo isn't "out of the picture" if he can still communicate and make decisions with the rest of the cartel.
• Major Injury Underreaction: He gets one of his ribs broken from a direct hit of an axe that Casper had used on him. Despite the pain, Lalo just nonchalantly admits that one of his ribs had broken and immediately focuses on interrogating Casper for information without a problem.
• Mood Whiplash: When interrogating Jimmy about the latter's story on what he had been doing on the desert with the 7$ million cash, Jimmy lies to him by saying that the car broke down, leading to a slow delivery of the cash. However, once Lalo orders Jimmy to tell him the story again, the tone of the scene begins to significantly darken and Lalo's friendly demeanor slowly becomes more serious. Lalo's tone of voice ends up being used to hide his building fury from the Blatant Lies Jimmy is giving him, until Kim stands up for Jimmy.
• Mook Horror Show: A villainous variant; Lalo showcases just why he's the most effective Salamanca in Something Unforgivable when he systematically subdues and kills the assassins sent by Gus kill him, making use of anything he can find as well as his underground escape tunnel. It's especially frightening when all of this is done during the night and even more when the assassins are said by Gus to be "the best" he has.
• Moral Sociopathy: He lacks empathy but is still friendly to his associates instead of intentionally intimidating them, and he's willing to give praise whenever it's due, usually in the case with Nacho. It marks him as the most pragmatic of the Salamancas, while still making him just as unnerving as the rest of his family.
• Narrow Annihilation Escape: He manages to make his way out to the outskirts just as more of Gus's men manage to infiltrate his now bloodied and wrecked mansion.
• Near-Villain Victory: He had Gus dead to rights, but through his Bond Villain Stupidity and quick thinking by Gus, he loses at the last moment.
• Never Found the Body: Lalo deliberately subverts this by killing a man who resembles him (after having also told him to shave his beard but leave a mustache and soul patch) and then burning the body so that it can't be recognized (except by the dental records apparently matching Lalo's, which makes sense since he apparently had a hand in funding the man's oral surgery).
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: As clever at it was, his efforts to fake his death, in particular his use of a perfect Body Double that even matched his dental records, backfire on his family after his death, as even his cousins Marco and Leonel were fooled, and thus undermined Hector's attempt to reveal his survival after the attack on his house to Don Eladio. Also, him only contacting his nonspeaking uncle, without any of his cousins being present during his phone calls, only made it easier for Gus, Bolsa, and Eladio to discredit Hector's claims of Lalo's survival and of Gus' betrayal.
• Nice to the Waiter: From what we see of their interactions, Lalo seems to get on very well with the staff at his compound. He's visibly enraged when they get killed in the attempt on his life.
• The Nicknamer: Lalo seems to prefer this to using most people's real names. He's the one who gave Domingo his street name "Krazy-8", for instance.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Gets in very close when he's tied up Jimmy, promising he'll come back after he’s killed Fring so that he can hear the whole story about the desert, and putting the fear of god into the guy.
• Not So Above It All: His reaction to Gus's elaborate "chicken chiller" facade to explain Werner's crew.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: He is cunning enough to match wits with Gus Fring, but his intelligence is rarely apparent to anyone with his laid back and childish demeanor.
• Obviously Evil: No one is fooled by his good nature act and everyone treats him with the same caution they would treat any Salamanca if not more because of the act he puts on. Even Fred Whalen, who was willing to bend privacy rules to help Mike with his "concerned for a friend" story, immediately saw through Lalo's attempt at the same trick and clamped right up after only a few seconds of small talk.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: He makes this very unsubtly clear to Jimmy when he offers him a job, but he accommodates him on the spot with his hefty fees rather than outright threaten him.
• Oh, Crap!: Lalo has two in Something Unforgivable when he finds out that Nacho escaped from his compound in Chihuahua, followed by learning that Gus's team of assassins have invaded his home with the intent to kill him and the residents.
• One-Man Army: He takes out an entire assassination squad hired by Gus all by himself when they raid his mansion in Chihuahua.
• Only Sane by Comparison: The Salamancas tend to kill needlessly and their erratic, illogical, or unpredictable behavior often proves self-destructive. Tuco is driven by impulse, the Cousins are bloodthirsty and adhere to codes of honor and even patriarch Hector is an impatient, Hot-Blooded jerkass of a Bad Boss who's difficult to work with. Lalo, on the other hand, goes out of his way to be polite, does not cultivate a threatening image, and is much more calculating than any other Salamanca. He's much more akin to Gus, playing the game by appearing innocuous and taking the logical route, masking just how dangerous he is. Of course, he's still a murderous sadist, so he's only the sane one in comparison to his unhinged relatives.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Exploited in "Point and Shoot". Gus immediately realizes what Lalo's plan is when Kim mentions that Saul talked Lalo out of choosing him to assassinate Gus. Why? Lalo can't be talked out of anything. More broadly, however, be very afraid if Lalo stops smiling.
• Outside-Context Problem:
  • Gustavo Fring was not aware of Lalo's existence while he was planning for revenge against the Salamancas. When he discovers not just his existence, but how competent and dangerous the man is, Gustavo becomes paranoid and has to take extra steps to figure out how to dispose of him.
  • He becomes this to Howard, as while he is aware of Saul's shady activities and connections, he wasn't aware of his affiliation with Gus and the Cartel until it was far too late for him. Howard has no familiarity with Lalo and assumes he's just another client of Saul's until he realizes far too late that this isn't the case, costing Howard his life.
  • On a meta-contextual level, Lalo completely disregards the very rigid and important color theming throughout both series. Unlike every other character, where the color of their clothes and their surroundings carry thematic meaning about who they are, what they're doing, and their overall morality, Lalo uniquely bucks this trend by just wearing whatever he wants.
• Painful Adhesive Removal: The oil he threw at the final assassin causes the latter's own mask to stick onto his face. When the assassin attempts to leave his home, Lalo stomps on his feet and begins interrogating him by painfully ripping off the sticky mask, due to the oil. The mask of the assassin is so sticky, that the skin ends up getting ripped off, alongside the mask.
• The Paranoiac: Kim calls him out for not trusting anyone in his circle. Lalo was actually right in that situation regarding Jimmy, but took her word. However, this lesson leads to his near downfall as deciding to trust Nacho costs him dearly.
• Perpetual Smiler: In almost all of his appearances, Lalo is always sporting a jolly, upbeat smile when he interacts with people. His constant smiling and cheerful attitude acts as a way to hide his intelligence, while being able to easily get along with others. The few moments where Lalo isn't sporting a smile, causes the tone of the story to get serious or when he isn't playing around with someone.
• Perp Sweating: Lalo's interrogation of Jimmy consists of him asking Jimmy to relay his story of what happened in the desert, over and over again. If Jimmy ends up repeating his claims almost word-for-word, it will expose the lie for being scripted. Then, Lalo follows it up by bluntly asking if he pushed his car into a ditch, something Jimmy would have no explanation for. Kim decides to intervene before things get worse.
• Pet the Dog: After murdering two smugglers who refuse to refund him, he apologizes to their other customers for the inconvenience and hands them their money back. Both the twins and Hector killed people in similar circumstances.
  • There's a very literal example in the episode "Black and Blue" when he breaks into Margarethe Ziegler's home. Her dog starts barking, and Lalo approaches him... just to stoop down and pet him, whispering comfortingly and shushing him.
• Poke the Poodle: Lalo goes out of his way to tap on Jimmy's aquarium, even after Jimmy tells him it will disturb the fish.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: While arguing with Bolsa about Gus, he makes a remark about how Gus could be plotting to take revenge against the cartel for his "boyfriend." He also sarcastically calls Jimmy a chichifo at one point.
• Posthumous Character: For Saul Goodman at least. Even after being dead for many long years, Saul is terrified that the man is still out there, and actively chooses to work with Walter White simply so he can shove the trauma of his experiences with him down without having to dwell on him.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Part of what makes Lalo so dangerous and unpredictable is that he judges and critically assesses his resources, surroundings, and anybody he makes contact with. Unlike most of his family members, he opts to get things done as quickly and effectively as possible, using good lying and impersonation skills and using surprising his enemies with either the environment or anything within his reach before he kills them. His way of intimidating others is also more low-key via using his seemingly affable and friendly personality when out of doing cartel business to communicate with others as well as threatening their lives.
  • In "Black and Blue", he's clearly learned from all the trouble that resulted from his casual murder of Fred Whalen, and is much more subtle when breaking into Margarethe's house, making sure to do so when she has left the house, calming down her pet dog so that its barking won't alert the neighbors, and then discreetly leaving when she unexpectedly returns. The fact he needs to get proof of Gus' project without alerting Gus to the fact he is still alive also factors into it. He'll have enough trouble with that when he leans on the construction crew, so no point tipping Gus off early by leaving a dead widow.
• Properly Paranoid: Unlike most of the cartel's leadership, (who are blindly seduced by the cash flow) Lalo does not trust Gus at all. He is also fully aware of the bad blood between Hector and Fring and confronts him about the suspicious strides he took to save his uncle's life. He is absolutely right to be suspicious of Gus, even when it comes to Gus saving Hector's life. He is also really distrustful of anyone working for him that is not family to the point he sends Jimmy to get his bail money, putting more trust in a civilian's fear than his men's loyalty. He also isn't wrong there either as not only does Gus have a mole in his gang, but Bolsa is also fed up with him and he knows the Salamanca personally enough to monitor them.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Downplayed; he's reasonable, level-headed, and calculated, even if he possesses the same type of bloodthirst and brutality that the Salamancas are known for. However, Lalo is also very giddy and talkative when out of cartel business, with his mannerisms and demeanor being quite exaggerated, much like a child who feels proud and accomplished by his skills. His kiddish persona is not meant to be endearing, of course, and only serves to show just how unhinged and unnerving Lalo is, even when not in a violent mood.
• Pulling the Thread: Lalo's biggest strength is his ability to take a minor detail from his surroundings and pull it apart to reveal the truth.
  • Despite what he claims to Gus when they first meet, he realizes that the bad blood between Gus and Hector means that Gus has no motivation to save his life. This inspires Lalo to investigate his activities, eventually uncovering the superlab operation.
  • Lalo pieces together Nacho's betrayal only by recalling subtle movements he made during their last conversation.
  • Just from hearing a tone in one of his phone calls to Hector, Lalo realizes that Gus knows he's alive and has bugged his phone. In just a minute, he takes that fact and uses it to his advantage by bluffing to Hector about his plans to lure Gus and Mike's forces away while he goes after Jimmy and Kim.
• Pyromaniac: He's giddy when recalling how back in the day, Lalo and Hector burned down a hotel after the owner disrespected Hector. He also burns down the TravelWire to cover his tracks after killing Fred and has Nacho burn down one of Gus's restaurants.
• Real Men Cook: Similar to Tuco, Lalo enjoys cooking and is frequently seen whipping up tacos. He enjoys it so much, in fact, it seems he replaced El Michoacano's manager during morning hours to do the cooking.
• Revenge Before Reason: Hector has to talk Lalo out of killing Gus and burning his lab without any proofs to justify his actions to Eladio after Gus sent a paramilitary kill squad at his home.
• Sadist: He is certainly sadistic towards Jimmy. After he is freed on $7 million bail, he gives a badly-sunburned Jimmy a hearty slap on the back. In "Point and Shoot" we see Jimmy wincing in pain as Lalo makes a particular point of tying him up a little too tightly. Lalo would probably be delighted to learn that six years after he died, but beforehand promised a Bound and Gagged Jimmy that he’ll be back to hear about what happened in the desert, the guy is still traumatized and terrified, assuming that Lalo has put a hit out on him.
• Sadistic Choice: He unknowingly puts Gus in this position when he has Krazy-8 reveal his dead drop locations to the DEA. Gus will lose a lot of money if the DEA gets a hold of it, but if he shuts down the dead drops, then Lalo will know someone talked in his organization. Gus chose the former.
• Saved by Canon: Averted. Jimmy is told Lalo's not coming back in "Point and Shoot", but he's so terrified of the guy that he doesn't believe it, and his sudden fear in the Breaking Bad episode "Better Call Saul" that Lalo's returned to kill him is only because Saul thinks he's still out there somewhere.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: He sure doesn't mind opening that seemingly endless wallet of his. Jimmy demands 7k for his services - Sure, why not? Lalo's bail is worth 7 million - Sure, meet my guys here. He even agrees to pay Jimmy 100k for picking up the aforementioned 7 mil.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once his bail is paid, Lalo immediately decides to head back to Mexico so he can continue doing his business without the threat of legal powers.
• Shared Family Quirks: His initial appearance makes it hard to think he'd fit in with the rest of the unsmiling and outwardly-intimidating Salamancas at first glance. By the next few episodes, he quickly proves himself to share their penchant for violence and fire, just expressed in his own way.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Lalo always wears a shirt with a collar, a nice belt, and shoes.
• Slasher Smile: Even when he's being friendly, there's a distinctly frightening edge to Lalo's smile.
• The Sleepless: Lalo mentions that on average, he needs less than 3 hours of sleep each night. It's also justified, as he claims his mind works better at nighttime - there are less distractions. This proves to be a powerful Foreshadowing on his part, seeing as how Lalo is able to near-effortlessly take down and massacre a team full of elite assassins during the night.
• The Sociopath: A very successful high-functioning example. There are people that Lalo seems to genuinely care for, insofar as he selectively puts value on their lives and well-being, but will, without hesitation, kill them or leave them to be killed the instant his own life and success matter "more" (such as using a teenage member of his staff as a human shield to survive an assassination).
  • His total Lack of Empathy towards the murder of Fred Whalen and being absolutely befuddled by the concept of love in a conversation with Kim Wexler shows how detached Lalo is from human morality.
  • In "Axe and Grind" he cuts meth lab construction worker Casper's foot clean off with an axe and after having the nerve to complain that Casper may have broken one of his ribs, he simply hands him his belt and tells him to use it as a tourniquet, "Then we'll have a talk".
  • In "Plan and Execution" he pays Kim and Jimmy a visit at their home, and is surprised to see Howard Hamlin there. Seeing this stranger as little more than an inconvenience and a witness who must be dispatched, he calmly shoots Howard in the head at point-blank range — this, after encouraging Howard to finish his conversation. He then turns to a horrified Kim and Jimmy, shushes their horrified screams like a parent consoling a child who dropped their ice cream, smiles, and says "Let's talk".
• Spotting the Thread: Lalo is set on returning to Mexico with the twin cousins picking him up, but then he remembers that Saul described his car as breaking down a few miles from that very same location. He finds it pushed into a ditch with bullet holes on the side, and he goes on to confront them about this.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: As Fred talks to a phone call, he assumes Lalo had left him secretly to go call the police. However, it turns out Lalo had barged into the ceiling of TravelWire, so he could sneak attack Fred behind the counter.
• A Storm Is Coming: An interestingly metaphorical case. While no storm ever appears in the series, the conclusion of Something Unforgivable sees Lalo walking through his compound's pathway with an enraged expression, where the sound of the gravel slowly starts to resemble more like an upcoming thunderstorm. What does it mean? Lalo is the storm, now bent on taking revenge against Gus and Nacho for sending assassins to his hideout and betraying him respectively. His actions in the following episodes changes all of the main characters' lives forever.
• Suspicious Spending: His bail was designed with this in mind. Somehow capable of paying millions off in cash as stipulated, the prosecution and authorities are alerted to investigate "Jorge de Guzman" for suspected criminal links. Lalo plans on leaving the country before they're able to get anywhere.
• Talkative Loon: In stark contrast to the other members of his family, Lalo likes to engage in chats, showing a wildly extroverted and excitable vibe. While it shows that Lalo is willing to open up and be affable for the most part, he still is a maniacal, trigger-happy psychopath underneath it all.
• Talking the Monster to Death: Downplayed; he doesn't die, but Kim is able to socially stun him into thinking why would she trust and care about Saul so much when he questions her about bail money Saul was supposed to deliver him before he leaves Kim's apartment. Even then, the conclusion remains rather Ambiguous.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Comes with the actor Tony Dalton's conventionally handsome looks. And it's something Lalo himself is very aware of, as he uses his charms to his advantage when seducing Mrs. Ziegler.
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: What sets him apart from the rest of the Salamancas is that he looks (relatively) "normal" and not Obviously Evil like the eerie-looking Cousins, the thuggish and clearly deranged Tuco or his perpetually frowning Uncle Hector.
• Through the Ceiling, Stealthily: While Fred takes his time to answer through a phone call, Lalo takes the opportunity to climb on top of TravelWire's ceiling to reach Fred. Once Fred is done with his phone call, Lalo suddenly breaks out of the ceiling to immediately kill him.
• Together in Death: Played with in that Howard and Lalo have no relationship before the latter murders the former. Lalo is buried in the same pit as Howard Hamlin, an Innocent Bystander he murders in cold blood, in the floor of Gus Fring's meth lab. The location of their shared grave isn't discovered by the remaining characters by the end of the series, and presumably never is.
• Too Clever by Half: Lalo did such a good job of faking his own death that only Hector knows he survived the raid on his home. When Gus actually does kill him, he’s able to get off scot-free with the cartel because there’s only Hector’s word (or, more accurately, bell-dictated note) against him.
• Tranquil Fury: After killing the assassins out to kill him in Something Unforgivable as well as seeing the corpses of his household, and figuring that Gus was behind the attack, Lalo walks off with a stern and composed, yet utterly furious disposition, determined to continue his ongoing battle between Gus and the Salamancas.
• Tuxedo and Martini: He poses as one whilst taking the alias of "Ben" in Blue and Black.
• Undying Loyalty: Lalo is unflinchingly loyal to his uncle Hector and takes his creed of "family is everything" to heart. Hell, the sole reason he enters the show is to watch over Gus following his Hector's stroke and continue their personal feud.
• Villain Ball: He had Gus and all the proof he needed to kill him without Eladio getting mad over it, but he drags it just long enough for Gus to shoot him.
• Villain Cred: When Nacho rushes back into the drug house to pick up the remaining cocaine stash before the cops discover it, Lalo is practically giddy with the prospect of Nacho getting busted or killed, going so far as to eat a snack. So, when Nacho re-enters the car, stash in tow, Lalo outright calls him a badass.
• The Villain Knows Where You Live: By Season 5, Lalo knows where Saul's apartment is, and it is with this knowledge that Kim ends up crossing paths with him. Any sort of levity that is shown whenever Saul and Kim are in their apartment vanishes the moment Lalo shows up. The first time, Saul is endangered when the topic of the bail money is pressed. The second time, someone dies, the casualty being Howard Hamlin, who just so happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
• Villains Out Shopping: He's not openly psychotic or unnatural enough like the rest of his family to a point he can't be above playing Texas Hold 'Em with his cartel associates during downtime like a perfectly normal and friendly dude. However, most of his associates are on edge playing with him with Emilio choosing to lose face over calling his bluff.
• Villain Respect: He's a sadist to Jimmy, thinks he's a chichifo/doormat/cockroach and taunts him about his wife, but does respect him for the Talking Your Way Out powers and being an Amoral Attorney. He respects Kim more for coming to see him and telling him off, and starts to think she's as smartly sociopathic as he is. He's also quite impressed at Gus' meth lab and openly admits it.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • He has one in Something Unforgivable when he finds out that Nacho has led Gus's assassins to his hideout. He's even more furious when he sees that everyone in the household, sans himself, is dead, and him looking at Yolanda's corpse is followed by him walking off in an unnaturally enraged expression.
  • He has another one in Plan and Execution when he sees that Gus bugged his phone, causing him to explode into a violent outburst and smash a chair in response.
    Lalo: Clever Chicken Man… Clever clever Chicken Man…
• Villainous Valor: Lalo will not go down without a fight if he can manage it. He could have escaped from his compound via the underground tunnels when it was invaded by Gus's assassins, but instead chose to fight back, immobilizing and killing his aggressors without many setbacks.
• Wicked Cultured: Lalo has a very refined taste, being especially fond of tacos and alcoholic beverages, and is relatively sophisticated when compared to the rest of his family.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Many of Lalo's actions end up causing even more chaos and death than he could've expected, especially with the benefit of Breaking Bad hindsight.
  • By giving Hector his signature bell, he also inadvertently hands him the weapon he and Walt will use to kill himself and officially wipe out the Salamanca family.
  • The trauma he inflicts on Jimmy is a big part of why he sinks into the Saul Goodman persona and eventually what drives him to represent Walter White. This association leads to Walt and Gus crossing paths, which eventually leads to, among other things, a midair collision that kills over 200 people, the deaths of Leonel and Marco in their botched assassination of Hank, the annihilation of the Cartel, Hector's Murder-Suicide of Gus, and Heisenberg eventually filling the power vacuum Gus leaves behind.
• Villainous Crush: He's nothing but unnervingly polite to her face, but he makes sure to tell Jimmy that Kim is hot, and for obvious reasons Jimmy would rather die himself than leave her alone with him. When it's in Kim’s earshot, it also mixes with Villain Respect, as by "Point and Shoot" the only reason why he wants Jimmy to go off first is because he assumes Jimmy would do what he's told and Kim would be a Spanner in the Works.
• Villainous Legacy: Averted. Despite having committed a number of horrific crimes on behalf of his notorious family and nearly taking down Gustavo Fring's drug empire in the process, Lalo has no legacy to speak of by the time of Breaking Bad. Jesse Pinkman even notes that he'd never once heard of Lalo while dealing on the street, and only learns about his existence when Saul Goodman namedrops him in a panic when he's kidnapped. He doesn't even know that Lalo was a Salamanca, despite him and Walter having helped kill his cousin Tuco earlier in Season 2.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: When Lalo calls Hector's nursing home, he realizes that Gus knows he is alive and had the nursing home's phones bugged, anticipating the possibility that Lalo might try to contact Hector. In only a couple of minutes, Lalo improvises a plan to use this knowledge against Gus by Bluffing The Eavesdropper and drawing Gus' attention away from his true targets, Jimmy and Kim.
• You Are in Command Now: With Hector paralyzed from head-to-toe, the Cousins being more in line as hitmen, and Tuco in prison, Lalo is the Salamanca that is appointed to take up the family's leadership and more than makes up for it with his sly and cunning mind and being determined with his goals whilst retaining the usual violent tendencies that come with being a Salamanca.

Tuco Salamanca

See here.

The Cousins

See here.

"Abuelita"

"Abuelita" Salamanca

Portrayed By: Míriam Colón

Appearances: Better Call Saul

"Oh, my God! But they're so angry!"

Tuco, Lalo, and the twins' paternal grandmother and Hector's mother.

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• Absurdly Youthful Mother: Miriam Colón is only three years older then Mark Margolis. Ir's possible she had Hector very young or she could simply be meant to be much older then her actress.
• Ambiguously Evil: She brazenly commits a hit-and-run, though it could be that she suspected that it was a scam, was afraid that the victims would hurt her, or forgot about it. She also accepts Tuco's suspicious "salsa" spill excuse a bit too readily.
• Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear if she knows anything about her family's extensive involvement in the cartel. Tuco's behaviour suggests that the others keep her in the dark, but there are a few hints she knows more than she lets on. When she sees Tuco cleaning "salsa" off the carpet, she tells him to use club soda to deal with it. Club soda wouldn't do much to a salsa stain, but is commonly used to remove dried in blood, implying that she knows enough to put together what's really going on.
• Don't Tell Mama: Implied, as Tuco tries to hide his criminal activities from her.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Tuco is very kind to her, despite being a psychotically violent man.
• Morality Pet: To Tuco, him being an Ax-Crazy gangster who treats her with nothing but kindness... while also planning to torture and kill two scammers for calling her an "old biznatch". Jimmy tries to appeal to that by saying the scammers have an old mom to take care of.
• No Name Given: She's only ever known as Abuelita or Abuela (Spanish for "grandma").
• Small Role, Big Impact: Only appears in two episodes, but the skater twins mistaking her Ford Taurus for Betsy Kettleman's car sets off the plot of the series and introduces Jimmy to the cartel for the first time.
• Uncertain Doom: When Jimmy asks Lalo how his Abuelita is doing, Lalo doesn't answer and changes the subject with a dour expression, implying that she passed since the last time she appeared onscreen. ^note Her actress died in 2017, a few years before the episode where Jimmy asks Lalo about his Abuelita was filmed.

Subordinates

Dealers

Nacho Varga

Ignacio "Nacho" Varga

Portrayed By: Michael Mando

Appearances: Better Call Saul

"I'm not 'getting' into anything. I'm in it."

"Doing it for the money, I get it. But this shit, that’s insane."

An ambitious and pragmatic associate of the Cartel, working within the Salamancas' territories. While not yet a kingpin himself, Nacho is bright and has a talent for getting his bosses' attention. However, his rise binds him closer and closer to mercurial cartel politics, forcing him to outthink and outdo his "fellow" criminals to protect himself and his beloved father.

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• The Ace: Despite all the trouble he goes through, Nacho shows himself to be one of the Cartel’s most competent members, at least north of the border. He's a quick thinker and decent strategist, while also having lots of street smarts. Multiple times, he pulls off missions that leave anyone who notices amazed, and even gains the respect of Don Eladio in one conversation.
• Action Survivor: He is in over his head with the Cartel, trying to survive the tantrum of his bosses, avoid jail time and escape the powerful enemies he made.
• Advertised Extra: Only in the first season. Michael Mando is credited for every episode as though Nacho is a full-time character, yet he only appears in four out of the ten episodes, and mostly is a One-Scene Wonder. He becomes the tritagonist of the series after the second season starts. He appears in about half the series.
• Affably Evil: Zig-zagged, but mostly played straight. Nacho can be cold and a straight-up Jerkass at times (like when he threatens to have Jimmy killed if he doesn't get him out of jail) but he's far more friendly and reasonable than most of his associates when things are going well. The fact that he's always surrounded by genuinely evil characters such as the Salamancas and Gus makes his affability stand out even more.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When Gus decides to significantly turn up the heat on Nacho for underperforming to his standards, he frantically pleads for his father's life.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Villain might be a stretch by the time of his death, but Nacho's story arc becomes one of tragedy and an increasing sense of hopelessness the moment Gus and Lalo force him into his payroll on different occasions. No matter what Nacho does, especially keeping his father safe from both Gus and the Salamancas, things keep getting worse and it eventually comes to a point where he technically has no option left but to die from either party. By that point, Nacho killing himself seems like a relief as he was able to ensure his father is safe and that he no longer has to suffer from either Gus or the Salamancas.
• All for Nothing:
  • His ploy to swap out Hector's heart pills for fake ones and induce a stroke doesn't work fast enough for him, and he ends up having to reveal his criminal activities to his straight-arrow father anyway, as well as introduce Hector to him, putting him in danger. Also, before Hector can even start to utilize Manuel's store as a front for drug smuggling, Eladio and Bolsa tell him he's under strict orders to utilize only Gus's chicken trucks, meaning that Hector would have been forced to abandon his plan anyway. Plus, the pill swap is what ends up putting him under his thumb of Gus.
  • His entire career in crime as depicted in the show. Basically every time he attempts to advance himself or get ahead in the criminal underworld, he either fails or ends up getting blowback that just makes his situation worse. By the end of the show, things are so bad for him, that his only choice is to give himself up to be killed, just so his father won't become collateral damage. Even the money he managed to make working for The Cartel ends up going to waste, as his father won't touch what he knows is dirty money.
• Anti-Villain: Nacho is strictly into underworld business in the hopes of securing himself financially before quickly retiring, being a Consummate Professional horrified by the cruelty and chaos surrounding him the further he is ensnared with the Salamanca family and Gus Fring.
• Ascended Extra: Nacho started out as one of Tuco's henchmen, but then got more and more screen time and development as the series progressed. By Season 3, he firmly begins to develop a subplot of his own as he tries to get rid of Hector to stop him from using Nacho's father's upholstery shop as a front, then finds himself in debt to Gus after Gus finds out about it.
• Bald of Evil: Downplayed; Nacho sports a crew-cut hairstyle that shows off his head and gives him an intimidating look. He's a cartel employee, although he comes across as more sympathetic and conflicted compared to his fellow workers and employers, especially the Salamancas.
• Being Evil Sucks: His whole character practically exists to demonstrate what a toll the life of a drug dealer can take on you even with the lucrative prospects in mind.
• Beneath the Mask: He is way more scared of his situation than he lets on, and the mask crumbles more often in later seasons when he's alone.
• Benevolent Boss: Though he's very stern, Nacho is an extremely reasonable boss when compared to the likes of the Salamancas. He is open to small talk from his dealers, was willing to let Krazy-8 go unpunished for being short on his payments (until Hector intervened), and later let a mouthy punk similarly short go with only a warning and missing earring.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: Decides he would rather take his own life than be killed by either the Salamancas or Gus's men.
• Bookends: Nacho's storyline begins with him being a part of an interrogation in the middle of the desert and it ends with him being interrogated in the middle of the desert.
• Boom, Headshot!: Shoots himself in the head after giving a The Reason You Suck speech to the Salamancas.
• Butt-Monkey: A dark example. Despite appearing as a hardened criminal badass early on, it becomes increasingly clear Nacho had little idea what insanity he was getting himself into with the Cartel, and nothing goes right for him following Tuco's imprisonment. After causing Hector's stroke, he humiliatingly becomes Gustavo's chew toy subject to being shot if necessary. Heck, even before Tuco's imprisonment, Jimmy and Mike decided to ruin all his side gigs, everyone Saved by Canon seemingly making it their mission to screw Nacho.
• Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Despite doing everything Mike instructs him to do to cover his tracks in poisoning Hector, it's not enough to stop Gus from finding out and then using it to blackmail him. It gets worse which the Cartel quickly realizes that he betrayed Lalo.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: A sympathetic example, because the people he betrays are first Tuco and then Hector Salamanca, both of whom are bad bosses who would kill him or his family even if he remained loyal. Nevertheless, once he falls under Gustavo Fring's control, this impression influences how Gus chooses to keep him in line.
  Gus: A dog who bites every owner he's had can only be disciplined with a firm hand. Or...put down.
• Commonality Connection: He and Jimmy don’t have much scenes together in the long run, but he feels sympathy for the guy being shoved into a cartel situation that he doesn't want to be in (at that point knowing what that's like), and Mando compared them to kids in the playground that nobody else wants to play with, Jimmy because he's assumed to not be good enough, Nacho because their parents told them not to.
• Consummate Professional: Nacho is so far the only person aside from Gus and Mike who keeps things professional in the series (and even then those two are still partly fueled by revenge). He didn't seek revenge on Jimmy when he pointed out how dumb his arrest was, he hires Mike even though he made a fool out of him and although he is hot-blooded he refrains from doing something purely out of anger. That doesn't necessarily make him a good criminal though, just a reasonable one.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: He's essentially Better Call Saul's answer to Jesse Pinkman, so he's technically a Contrasting Prequel Main Character. Both are young, low-level criminals who act as a sidekick of sorts to the older protagonist(s), are worried for the well-being of their loved ones, and sometimes question their life choices. However, while similar they differ in many ways.
  • While Nacho wants to connect with his father, Jesse eventually accepted that trying to stay on good terms with his family was pointless. It is even more apparent in their last appearances on screen - in El Camino, Jesse deceives his parents to sneak into their house steal their guns (though he does at least genuinely apologize to them and lets them know they're not at fault for his criminal activities), while Nacho is honest with his father in their last conversation.
  • Nacho is implied to Really Get Around, while Jesse, himself no slouch with the ladies, tried to have monogamous, long-term relationships.
  • Nacho is The Stoic (though he can get scary if need be), while Jesse is Hot-Blooded.
  • Gus forced Nacho to become The Mole, while Jesse went to Hank and Gomez willingly.
  • Nacho came up with the idea to assassinate Hector himself, while Jesse often had to be talked into committing violence.
  • Their relationships with older protagonists differ. Both share a respect for Mike, willing to listen to his advice, but Nacho doesn't encounter Jimmy again until several seasons later, while Jesse always accompanied Walt, stark opposites to each show's main Villain Protagonists.
  • Jesse manages to escape his past and start a new life, while Nacho commits suicide after having no way of escaping his doom.
• Contrived Clumsiness: To get the pills in and out of Hector's jacket, he "accidentally" drops the money notes so he has another chance to swap them out.
• Defiant to the End: He curses the Salamancas and gladly tells them he was involved with the assassination attempt on Lalo, as well as causing Hector's stroke. He then shoots himself in the head before either the Salamancas or Gus' men can kill him.
• Death by Origin Story: Commits suicide upon being cornered by both Gus' men and the Salamancas in "Rock and Hard Place". His death and his father's later words to Mike are heavily implied to turn Mike into the ruthless asshole that we see in Breaking Bad.
• Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: He decides to start making extra drugs behind Tuco's back and makes sure to be discreet with his supplier so he doesn't create a ruckus that would attract Tuco's attention. When his supplier can no longer provide him with drugs, Nacho takes up his offer to look at his car and then discreetly learns his home address so he can rob it for an extra profit. While robbing his supplier's house so he can make extra money from the hidden drugs and baseballs cards is admittedly Standard Operating Procedure for many drug dealers, Varga failed to consider that a man naive enough to let him sit in his car unsupervised would also be naive enough to call the police over a burglary that would jeopardize Nacho and Tuco's operation, putting him at risk of Tuco's wrath.
• Didn't Think This Through: As intelligent as Nacho is, he didn't realize that removing one Salamanca could result in a replacement that's worse. Though, he never could have predicted this would result in him inadvertently getting in tight with the top Salamancas.
• The Dog Bites Back: He lands Tuco in prison after serving as his underling, and eventually causes Hector to have a stroke by swapping his heart medication with sugar pills. He also opens the gate for Lalo's assassins, although this doesn't pan out like he wants it to. Even his suicide can be construed as this — he refers to his planned death, which is Victor shooting him when he attempts to run away, as Victor "[putting him] down", and is well aware Gus and the Salamancas all see him as less than human. So for a final act of defiance, the only thing he can do is refuse to die like the dog they see him as, and take the satisfaction of ending his life away from his enemies.
• Don't Tell Mama: Like Tuco, he keeps his criminal activities from certain family members, in this case, his father. He seems to be better at it, though. At least until Hector decides to use his father's business as a front.
• Double Agent: He's forced to become one to Gus after Gus finds out about him causing Hector's stroke, acting as Gus's eyes and ears within the Salamanca organization, a role that becomes important once Lalo starts making moves against Gus.
• The Dragon: To Tuco, then Hector on paper. Then he finds himself forced into being one for Gus when Gus finds out about his role in Hector's stroke, eventually pretending to be one to Lalo.
• Dragon Ascendant:
  • Arranges for Tuco to be assassinated in Season 2. It changes to sending him to prison for 5 years after assaulting Mike.
  • With Hector incapacitated throughout Season 4, Bolsa grants him and Arturo the position to keep Salamanca territory stable.
  • By late Season 5, Lalo is arranging for Nacho to become this. He takes Nacho south of the border to get him promoted to head of the Albuquerque branch with Eladio's blessing, while Lalo waits for the heat to die down.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Going behind Tuco's back in a number of ways strongly suggests he has plans of his own. Turns out he always has ventures of his own, and he decides it's best to try killing Tuco before Tuco kills him.
• The Dreaded: Krazy 8 is scared shitless of him, especially after he beats him mercilessly when he fails to pay him back in full. In his final moments, he manages to put the fear of God into Gustavo Fring before blowing his brains out.
• Dying Curse: Thematically, Nacho did this to everyone present at his suicide. Everyone there, Gus, Victor, Tyrus, Bolsa, the Twins, and Hector, all suffer horrible deaths a few years later. The only one who is given a somewhat peaceful end is Mike, the only person who didn't want Nacho to die.
• Dying Declaration of Hate: With nowhere to go and given a die-or-die situation between Gus and the Salamancas, Nacho decided to speak his mind and declare his hatred towards both parties, even admitting to Hector that he was the one responsible for paralyzing him to be in a wheelchair, citing that the reason Nacho did it was because Hector is a "twisted fuck".
• Dying Moment of Awesome: He gloriously sticks it to the Salamancas by admitting to betraying them and calling them out for the scumbags they are, then denies them the satisfaction by taking his own life after holding Bolsa hostage for a moment.
• Establishing Character Moment: He has an unceremonious introduction as seemingly just another friend and lackey of Tuco's, but his first scene contains several major establishing beats: He calmly talks Tuco down from hurting Jimmy, asks questions that puncture holes in Jimmy's improvised cover story, and hangs back dispassionately while the other two help Tuco break the skateboarders' legs. All of this subtly marks Nacho out as being in a different category from Tuco and the others, more intelligent and reserved.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He works with his dad in a car upholstery store. When he thinks Mike is threatening his family, he gets quite angry. He is even willing to defy Hector over getting his father in the business, which comes at the price of his father becoming a bargaining chip that Gus uses against him.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • He's disgusted by Tuco's random and totally unneeded murder of Dog Paulson to an extent that seems to go beyond just pragmatism. Doesn't help that Tuco could have killed him too by accident. This is why he seeks to have Tuco removed from the scene. He's also pretty scared when Hector threatens Mike's family – and genuinely shaken seeing the number Tuco did on Mike.
  • Killing and endangering innocent people is something Nacho isn't willing to tolerate. He seems reluctant to tell Mike about what happened to the Good Samaritan who came upon the truck driver. And when asked, he is very blunt and obviously disturbed by it. Later, he non-verbally signals Hector's goon, Arturo, to stop blocking the customers' escape when they hold up Los Pollos Hermanos. Furthermore, he outright begs the assassins Gus sent for Lalo to avoid killing any of the staff at his villa.
  • He's clearly uncomfortable with having to go along with Gus's False Flag Operation to trick the Cousins into wiping out the Espinozas, and more with the fact that the cover-up of his defection involves him getting shot so it "looks real". When he finds out Mike is now working for Gus, he is baffled that Mike would do such a thing knowing exactly what Nacho has witnessed Gus do.
• Everybody Owns a Ford: He plays it straight and then it's subverted; Nacho drives a 1992 Chevrolet Express work van in the earlier seasons but then is seen driving an AMC AMX in the fourth and fifth season. The fact that he drives an AMC instead of a GM car can possibly symbolize that he is not really on the Salamancas' side.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Nacho confesses to Eladio he wanted respect and is able to do things his way without people trying to cross him. As Eladio points out joining the Cartel was a poor choice as all of Nacho's bosses are violently insane and willing to get him killed for their plan or sometime in Tuco and Hector's case because they are that careless with him.
• Evil Is Petty:
  • He tries to short Daniel on his drug payment instead of following the agreed amount. When Mike insists that Nacho fork up the missing $20, Nacho drops the bill on the ground to make Daniel have to scramble for it.
  • Much later, when he forces Jimmy into taking a ride with him for some business, he non-verbally demands Jimmy to throw away his ice cream cone before riding despite him obviously wanting to take it along. Though to be fair, he might’ve not wanted Jimmy to spill the ice cream in his car.
• Extremely Protective Child: Nacho is constantly committed to his father's safety, and in the final season, chooses to turn himself into Gus - condemning himself - to ensure that Gus doesn't come after his father. After making Mike promise to protect his father, Nacho accepts his death.
• Face Death with Dignity: Instead of allowing himself to be killed in a staged escape attempt, Nacho chooses to let out all of his longstanding hatred and disgust toward the Salamancas in his final moments, defiantly confessing to both Lalo's supposed death and causing Hector's heart attack. And when he takes Bolsa hostage and finds himself facing down both the Cousins and Gus's men, he decides he would rather die on his own terms and takes the gun to his own head. Bad. Ass.
• Fatal Flaw: He seems to have a tendency to not think ahead regarding his plans.
  • His attempt to rob the Kettlemans fails when his van (which still has blood from the skaters) gets suspected by a neighbor, gets investigated by the police (who then see the blood), and the Kettlemans disappear after he directly tells their former lawyer about what he intends to do.
  • He later underestimates just how much of an idiot Daniel Wormald really is, who causes Mike to track him down. Running his side gig without letting Tuco know also ends up giving Mike leverage for both times they meet.
  • Then there are his plans to have his bosses assassinated so that he doesn't have to deal with the trouble they cause him, only for a worse boss to take their place. The plans themselves also needed work, as Nacho wasn't counting on the cartel to hold a grudge over Tuco either getting killed or sent to prison thanks to Hector "La Familia es Todo" Salamanca - nor did he think past Hector having a stroke and going down, with Lalo taking his place and getting more involved with the operation. Mike reworks his plans to have them bring Nacho less potential trouble.
  • Nacho is clearly smart enough to realize that the Cartel lifestyle that he's gotten himself in is a trap, but as the series moves along, it proves that he's not smart enough to find a way out of the trap. He does manage to die with some dignity, while also spitefully telling Hector he was responsible for him getting in his wheelchair.
• Foil:
  • To Mike, both have a code of honor and are business-oriented criminals, which makes most of their conversations go smoothly even when they are on opposite sides or working as frenemies. The main difference is experience with Nacho being young and abrasive while Mike is a Grumpy Old Man.
  • To Tuco, acting as his Number Two. They work as partners in the cartel and are rather ruthless, but Nacho remains reasonable in times when Tuco would rather resort to cruelty from the start. It's best shown with how they interrogate Jimmy in the desert, with Tuco blinded by FBI Agent "Jeffrey Steele" stroking his ego versus Nacho asking specific questions. As a meta difference, while Tuco is more connected to Walt's story, Nacho plays a closer role in Jimmy's.
• From Bad to Worse: At the start of the series, he's the right-hand man of Tuco Salamanca, who is in charge of meth distribution in the South Valley for The Cartel, and is able to easily conceal his illicit activities from his father. His Dog Paulsen story indicates this arrangement has been going on for at least five years at this point. With each successive season, his situation becomes more tenuous and dangerous, all four men he works under end up severely threatening him, his father discovers his cartel work, and he ends up forced to act as a mole for Gus. About the only time after the first season where it seems like things are looking up for Nacho is for a few fleeting moments in season five when Lalo takes Nacho to meet Don Eladio and get him a higher rank in The Cartel...but Nacho had long since wanted out of criminal underworld by then and has no intention of taking it. And either way, Gus orders him to assist in the hit on Lalo shortly after this, so he has to blow it up regardless.
• Futureshadowing: Nacho's death is witnessed by a very specific group of people, if you pay attention to each of them, it's the people who will end up dead during the events of Breaking Bad. Doubles as a Portent of Doom for viewers as well since even Mike who is the least evil of all of them will still end dying by Walter White's hand and while furthest from Nacho's death still witnessed it and had a hand in it, even if he was reluctant.
• Genre Blind: Mostly because of existing Breaking Bad hindsight, but Nacho comes across this way when it seems he really doesn't know just how bad the Salamancas can be if/when one of their family members gets murdered. A random, "drug-related" hit? Would not be quietly accepted as the price of doing shady business, nor would it be left unchallenged: nearby scapegoats could and would be found, regardless. His worse flaw is that he thinks all criminals understand how it works. Those crooks aren't dumb enough to incriminate themselves or that the Cartel will think of Tuco's death as an occupational hazard incident, and won't go in an all-out vendetta over and across the border to get revenge, and there are a bunch of idiotic or aggressive crooks who won't take the reasonable course of action.
• Handicapped Badass: Reeling from two gunshot wounds put in him by Gus's men, Nacho spends most of the Cousins' gun battle with the Espinozas waiting in the car. Until he decides he can't wait, gets out of the car, and ends up managing to kill one guard in the Cousins' blind spot.
• The Heart: His pure love for his father in "Rock and Hard Place" is contrasted with Jimmy and Kim in the same episode, who do genuinely love each other, but also enable each other's worst traits like addicts, intimately dressing each other but getting off on Evil Feels Good. His actor calls him the only character who actually "breaks good".
• Heel–Face Turn: Downplayed as he remains a criminal throughout the series. The writers have gone on record stating that Nacho is one of the few characters to break good in the series while just about everyone else gets worse. The only thing keeping this trope from being played straight is the fact that he keeps getting Forced into Evil by the Salamancas and Gus. He even turns himself in to the cartel full well knowing he'd be killed, so that his father would be safe.
• These Hands Have Killed: He is somewhat shaken by having to kill an Espinoza soldier during the Cousins' attack on their compound.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Turns himself to the cartel knowing full well he will be killed to sell a lie so that his father will be safe.
• Horrible Judge of Character: He's really not that good at understanding just how much new crooks really don't think like pros. Nor does it seem he realizes just how bonkers the Salamancas are as a whole, seeing how he seems to think it's just Tuco who is kill-happy (and may have been in the dark regarding Hector or the Cousins).
• Horrifying the Horror: Gus is legitimately terrified Nacho will rat him out during his rant. Even the Cousins look unsettled when they hear how much hatred Nacho had for the Salamanca family.
• Hot-Blooded: Although much, much calmer than his volcanos of bosses, Nacho is not above his own rash decisions and temper flare-ups.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: He's far more reasonable and savy than Tuco, and more effective than Tuco's other henchmen. He's essentially a blooming mastermind amidst violent thugs.
• Hypocrite: Both times he encounters Jimmy McGill, Nacho derides him for trying to weasel out of doing business with the cartel, reminding Jimmy that once he's in "the game", he can never get out. This is in spite of the fact that Nacho himself is trying to get out of the game by any means necessary, albeit for much more altruistic reasons than Jimmy is.
• Interface Spoiler: Nacho was always considered to be Doomed by Canon due to Breaking Bad not mentioning his major role in Gus's battle with the Salamanca family, but what prematurely made it clear he would die was when he didn't receive a new promotional picture for season six despite still being the main character at that point.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In Season 3, Nacho is left shaken by Hector making him beat up Krazy-8 for being short on his drug payments. Plus he resists when Hector decides he wants to turn Nacho's father's upholstery shop into a new front business that will recover his drug supply line, reminding Hector that his dad is not in the business. It's especially the latter infringement that convinces Nacho to turn against Hector.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Often Justified in that Nacho wants out of the game fast because everyone is crazy enough to kill him for no good reason and he doesn't have the luxury to wait most of the time. Still, Nacho has his moments.
  • He gets chewed out by Jimmy for being an evidence-leaving version of this. The dollar signs in his eyes made him rush to take an overly simplistic and too-direct approach to try to get the money out of the Kettlemans. Solo.
  • His robbing of thieves and some of his drug deals are done outside of the cartel and his usual crew, giving Mike some leverage. Even stupider when you consider how he's cutting Tuco out the loop while knowing what he's capable of.
  • Resorts to this to gain Lalo's trust, hoping to impress the Salamanca by rushing into a crackhouse that's about to be raided to recover lost cartel product.
• Manly Tears: He's visibly sobbing during and after his phone conversation with his father in Rock and Hard Place, knowing that this will be the last time they will ever speak to each other.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: Downplayed. Nacho may drive an AMC Javelin and dress very nicely but he isn't flash. His home is tastefully furnished with expensive-looking but minimalist furniture and decorated with original works of modern art.
• Medication Tampering: He does this to Hector Salamanca by switching his heart medication with ibuprofen, which further damages Hector's health to the point where he becomes paralyzed for life. Nacho did this partly because Hector is a despicable prick and because Hector was willing to threaten Nacho's father.
• Major Injury Underreaction: All things considered, he deals with getting shot twice to frame an attack pretty well, asking just to get it over with.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Nacho discovers a spy keeping tabs on him under Tyrus' orders, and after everything else Fring put him through, assumes the worst and fears he's been left to die, bailing on their plan and escaping by himself. The only person he now trusts at this point is Mike, who warned Gus that something like this would happen.
• The Mole: Blackmailed by Gus into becoming his mole in the Cartel after Don Hector's stroke.
• Morality Pet: His father and his fear of losing his father drives a lot of his actions in the series. Manuel isn’t really a Morality Chain, as Nacho is still a criminal regardless of what his dad wants for him.
• Morton's Fork: He reaches this point in Season 6 due to being on Gus and the Salamanca's shitlist whereupon he either dies gruesomely after being tortured by the Salamancas or is given a quick death from Gus. Nacho's choice was proclaiming his disgust for both parties and killing himself to deny them from getting any satisfaction.
• Mugging the Monster:
  • Nacho likes to rip off other thieves because he knows that his victims won't be able to go to the police to report him for theft, as that would mean having to admit to theft themselves. Unfortunately, it tends to backfire on the few times we see him do it.
    • He tried to do this to the Kettlemans, but Jimmy kept him from going through by warning them first.
    • While he succeeds at doing this to Daniel Wormald, Daniel decides to report the theft to the cops. This ropes Mike in to arrange a deal where Nacho gets Daniel's Hummer in exchange for the cards and some of the money (for Mike), resulting in Nacho making about $60,000 in total.
  • Speaking of Mike, Nacho's first deal with Daniel has him try to short him by $20. He's hoping to get away with ripping Daniel off and playing dumb, only for Mike to nudge him into paying in full. Nacho only puts up one last complaint before Mike dares him, and he finally coughs up the missing $20.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: His way to get rid of a problem and avoid repercussions. It's how he deduced Mike is the one that attacked Ximenez since anyone else would have killed him to avoid any chances of him identifying his assailant to the Salamanca. Mike however explained to him even a dead person can point toward you and suggest other, more complicated solutions.
  Mike: Killing your partner, that's a bell you don't unring.
• Narrow Annihilation Escape: After escaping from Lalo's compound, it doesn't take long before it's confirmed to the cartel that Nacho was the one responsible for betraying Lalo. Had he stuck around for a little while, he would have been caught, tortured, and killed for this act. Eventually he's caught for the betrayal, but he kills himself before anything Gus or Hector planned to do to him.
• Never Hurt an Innocent: What sets him apart early from the other cartel members. He hangs back when the twins are having their legs broken, saves Jimmy from having his fingers tortured, and he doesn't actually want to hurt the Kettlemans, just rip them off.
• Nerves of Steel: Rarely raises his voice and takes Tuco and Hector's tantrums cooly. He's also pretty calm when dealing with Victor and Tyrus threatening him at gunpoint. The only time that he really loses his composure is after he's blackmailed into working for Gus.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Nacho delivers one to Krazy-8 when the latter fails to deliver the right amount of money to the former in a failed objective.
• No "Police" Option: He attempts to do this as he robs people that he knows are criminals and thus they won't go to the police because if they do they will have their own misdeeds exposed in the ensuing investigation. The fact that it's "attempted" is because he then steals from Daniel Wormald, a crook who is so stupid that he does exactly what Nacho didn't want and does call the police, placing the two of them (and many other crooks) in trouble.
• Non-Promotion: Once Hector ends up hospitalized, he goes from Number Two to temporary leader over Salamanca territory in New Mexico. It just has him working a little bit more than before, with little else changing apart from keeping an eye on more things. Especially when Gus turns him into a Double Agent and Lalo is sent over.
• No-Respect Guy: Only Mike is willing to stand up for him while everyone else treats Nacho as a sacrificial pawn no matter how able he is.
• Not Afraid of You Anymore: Nacho spends most of the series being wary of the Salamancas and being frightened by Gus once Nacho realizes that he figured out Gus knows of his role in paralyzing Hector and holding leverage over his father's life. Said wariness for the Salamanca also turns into outright fear when Lalo turns up and when the Cartel has placed a bounty on Nacho's head. That said, by the time he has no other choice but to die, Nacho gets over his fear for both Gus and the Salamancas and voices out his sheer hatred and contempt for both of them before taking his own life.
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: He's so impartial to his sexy mistresses that it's a wonder as to why he even keeps them around.
• Number Two: He plays this role to the Salamancas running the territory in Albuquerque. This is best seen in Tuco and Lalo's cases, where they acknowledge him as capable of handling things when they aren't doing it themselves.
• Only Sane Man: He's far more level-headed than Tuco... and, is very aware of not just that, but just how much Tuco relies on his family ties to stay in his position — and, what that means for anybody perceived as trying to cross him. Nacho even tries to make clear to Jimmy exactly what he's gotten himself into and how he can survive it as a Pet the Dog head's up. However, this relative sanity is by contrast to Mr. Impulsively Psycho, Esq: by other standards, he's quite hot-headed and rather long-term consequences-blind.
• Paid Harem: In the big Time Skip, once his injuries are healed and he's a comfortable lieutenant to Gus, his borderline mansion comes with no less than three live-in girlfriends, all of them apparently junkies.
• Le Parkour: Downplayed but he is pretty acrobatic, as first shown when he climbs the roof of the restaurant to break the air conditioner. He uses this skill to impress Lalo.
• Persona Non Grata: By the final season he is unwelcome in his father's house, the shady veterinarian shop and Mexico. The Cartel life is particularly damaging for Nacho.
• Pet the Dog:
  • In his first appearance, he has the decency to point out to Tuco that, unlike Cal and Lars, Jimmy is giving Tuco respect, and therefore should be spared. This might be less out of compassion, though, and more about the $1.6 million that Jimmy has already mentioned and that Nacho figures he can get his hands on... if Jimmy isn't killed first.
  • A straighter example is deciding not to kill Mike after finding out he was about to put Hector, and by extension himself, under cop surveillance. He doesn't even care about the money being stolen since it's not his.
  • He non-verbally tells Arturo to let a mother and her child leave Los Pollos Hermanos when Hector starts acting out in an effort to intimidate Gus.
  • When Krazy-8 pleads for leniency for being short on his payments, Nacho obliges and gives him another week to make up for it. Hector is not amused.
• Polyamory: Always seen to be living with a minimum of two girlfriends at a time, and nobody bats an eyelid.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • He does his best to steer Tuco into making less violent decisions and seems to be rather logical when it comes to dishing out punishments. Although his decision to make deals behind Tuco's back is frankly idiotic.
  • Even then it makes sense for Nacho to try to make more deals of his own, he is working with an unstable boss who kills his employees on a whim; the sooner he is rich the sooner he can get away from Tuco before he does something that get them all killed (i.e. meet Heisenberg). Season 2 confirmed the reason why he wants Tuco out is not out of greed but because Tuco is too unpredictable to work with and almost killed Nacho by accident.
  • He knows Mike is opposing Hector and could be a problem if he reveals the setup they did to get Tuco in jail, however, he also knows killing Mike on his own initiative might raise even more suspicion and Mike is too moral to snitch on him.
• Pre-Sacrifice Final Goodbye:
  • Knowing that whatever happens next, following his escape from Lalo's complex and getting hounded by the Salamancas, he's probably not long for this world, before he phones Gus, Nacho makes one last call to his father Manuel, telling him he "just wanted to hear his voice" and tearfully says goodbye.
  • Following the above, Nacho and Mike exchange a nod of respect before Nacho is driven to the meeting with Bolsa and the Salamancas.
• Pretty Boy: Like Jesse before/after him, he's the young attractive guy of the show, and the camera will milk his luxuriously lashed Puppy-Dog Eyes for all their worth.
• Price on Their Head: Don Eladio puts a bounty on Nacho as soon as the cartel finds out that he was the one who betrayed Lalo to Gus's assassination squad.
• Profane Last Words: He venomously calls Gus an asshole and Hector a "twisted fuck" before blowing his own brains out.
• Properly Paranoid:
  • He threatens Jimmy knowing someone had to have warned the Kettlemans just after he made his intention to rob them known. Later, he's motivated into getting rid of Tuco since he's worried about getting caught in one of his psychotic highs. Given his line of work, is it any surprise he sees snitches in the grass? And he's not entirely wrong when he accuses Jimmy of ratting on him. He's just mistaken as to the breed of rat.
  • He spends most of his scenes in Carrot and Stick hiding out in a murky apartment and frequently looking out of the window to see if anything suspicious is going on. He's proven correct when he realizes that a supposedly abandoned shack has an air conditioner and has a resident who was paid to spy on Nacho.
• Psychotic Smirk: It's a very small one. It's enough to make anyone dealing with him (and the viewers) a little bit nervous.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers an absolutely epic one to Hector and the Cousins moments before his death:
  Nacho: Alvarez has been paying me for years. Years. But you know what? I would have done it for free. Because I hate every last one of you psycho sacks of shit. I opened Lalo's gate, and I would do it again, and I was glad what they did to him. He's a soulless pig, and I wish I killed him with my own hands. And you know what else, Hector? I put you in that chair. Oh yeah, your heart meds? I switched them for sugar pills. You were dead and buried, and I had to watch this asshole [Gus] bring you back. So when you are sitting in your shitty nursing home and you're sucking down on your Jell-O night after night for the rest of your life, you think of me, you twisted fuck.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Tuco's Red, though only by a margin. Where Tuco would resort to wanton violence first, Nacho is tempered and rational.
  • He later repeats this dynamic with Lalo. Lalo is far less volatile than Tuco, but still extroverted, direct, and prone to action. Nacho finds himself quietly and reluctantly following Lalo into unknown territory over and over, just like with Tuco.
• Roofhopping: He does this to retrieve a drug cache in a building that is actively being raided by the police, much to Lalo's amusement.
• Rule of Three: During the series, Nacho either attempts to kill or assist in the killing of three of his cartel bosses, all three members of the Salamanca family. All three attempts fail, although they all cause significant damage to the cartel's interests and have significant impacts on the events of the show (Tuco goes to prison for several years, Hector winds up mute and in a wheelchair, and Lalo is believed to be dead by everyone, which has big implications after his actual death at the hands of Gus).
• Saved by Canon: Subverted. He gets namedropped as "Ignacio" by Saul when Walt and Jesse kidnap him in Breaking Bad, in which he presumes the cartel has come to kill him for an incident involving Nacho. While it implies Nacho survived long enough for Saul to throw the blame onto him, he's also nowhere to be seen in the show, leaving his fate unknown until he finally meets his demise in "Rock and Hard Place". Not helping is how Locked Out of the Loop Saul tends to be regarding cartel business.
• Second Episode Introduction: Introduced in the second episode of the series.
• Sherlock Scan:
  • He easily figured out that Mike was behind the attack on Hector's drug runner since any other crew would have killed the driver, and Mike is the only criminal he knows of who would try to avoid lethal violence. When Mike insists on knowing about the cops, Nacho takes offense at learning that Mike intended for Hector to end up attracting the attention of the cops, since it also put the screws on him as well.
  • After helping the Cousins with the Espinoza shootout, he figures out exactly how Gus manipulated the Cousins into doing his dirty work and what benefits Gus gets to reap from it all.
• Spanner in the Works:
  • Prevents Mike from assassinating Hector Salamanca by standing in his line of fire such that Mike can't shoot Hector without also killing Nacho.
  • His sabotaging of Hector's medication to induce his death earns Gus' ire for interfering with his long-term plan of revenge against the Salamancas.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: Nacho is on the giving end by Hector. Because Hector is disabled and cannot talk, the only way he could "speak out" his contempt towards Nacho for revealing his ploy to paralyzing him is by asking Marco and Leonel for a gun and helping him shoot Nacho's corpse as his way to voice his disdain.
• Spiteful Suicide: Shoots himself in the head in order to deny Gus and the Salamancas the satisfaction of killing him.
• The Starscream: A rare example motivated more by pragmatism than egocentricity. He planned on killing Tuco because the latter's meth abuse is making him too unhinged to work with. Even though Mike points out Tuco's family would be a problem, Nacho would rather take his chances than die from Tuco's mood swings. With Tuco's in prison for longer, Hector is now in the crosshairs since he's even more dangerous due to his superior intelligence to Tuco and being a higher-ranked cartel boss in general, yet still petty enough to potentially get Nacho easily killed as part of Hector's pissing contest with Gus.
• Stealing from Thieves: He prefers to rob other criminals because they can't go to the police. When he learns about the Kettlemans' embezzlement money, he plans to steal it from them, knowing they'll take the fall for it, and is only thwarted from doing so by Jimmy warning them. He does the same thing later when Daniel Wormald carelessly leaves his vehicle registration (which includes his real name and home address) out in the open during a drug deal, breaking into his home and robbing him of all the cash he's made selling drugs.
• The Stoic: Very much so. Justified due to the madmen he deals with for a living, but Nacho is stoic even off duty.
• Street Smart: Even though he occasionally lets his impatience get away with him, Nacho is a very bright bunny when it comes to street-level dealings. He's very much brighter than the average crook shown on the show, with some of the competition helping highlight it. This actually turns out to be an issue: Nacho has trouble working with people who aren't as savvy or when it comes to working away from his usual turf. Combining the two blows up in his face, particularly with the Kettlemans: Nacho thought that because the Kettlemans were fresh, white-collar criminals, stealing from them would be a breeze. But his greed and impatience cause him to slip up—his lingering in the ritzy neighborhood makes a neighbor suspicious enough to write down his license plate and call the police who then found fresh blood in the back of his van (from the Lindholms). Even if Jimmy hadn't spooked the Kettlemans into running, Nacho would have been caught anyway shortly afterward with the stolen money and the blood. And within his own street turf, despite Nacho's efforts to cover his tracks in Hector's stroke, Gus figures out what he's done within 24 hours of Hector being admitted.
• Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: He's one of the main protagonists and kills himself three episodes into the final season.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Or in some cases, highly competent cartel criminals acting like idiots. Gus is a sociopath who wants petty revenge on Hector, Hector himself is an asshole, Tuco and the twins are violent monsters, Lalo would rather take matters into his own hands and keeps Nacho aside, Tyrus and Victor are loyal to Gus to a fault, and the dealers are useless. Mike is the most professional out of all the people he deals with, but also who he happens to work with the least, and even then they find themselves clashing over each other's approach. Nacho is an energetic pragmatist surrounded by people who aren't.
• Tempting Fate:
  • He is making deals behind Tuco's back despite fully knowing what that minefield is capable of when crossed—or, worse, what the cartel could do.
  • His old policy of only ripping off known, amateur crooks because they have no legal recourse isn't going as planned because they have found under-the-table options for prevention or redress (Jimmy warning the Kettlemans; Mike threatening to sell him out to Tuco if he doesn't give back Daniel's baseball cards). That's the downside to crooks: they might know other, better crooks — even if you don't know they do. Hence, if neither Tuco nor the cartel does him in, picking other, apparently, Stupid Crooks to "safely" rob could backfire much more seriously than getting a relatively cordial Jimmy or Mike to come to visit. There's also the fact that this applies to him as well. Before he dies, his dad asks him to go to the police, but he knows full well he can't.
• Too Clever by Half: His big weakness. Nacho is very smart and a logical thinker and a lot of this is because he's very good at weighing possibilities and figuring out what's least harmful to him. However, he tends to think that other people will also act in this manner, weighing risk versus reward to choose the best option, when a lot of the people he deals with are either Stupid Crooks or merciless psychopaths.
• Too Dumb to Live: On the other hand, pretty much all of his significant problems stem from him deciding to do some drug dealing without Tuco's knowledge when he already had firsthand experience with how paranoid, unstable, and violent Tuco could be, and how willing he was to murder someone for the flimsiest of reasons.
• Tragic Mistake: His decision to start doing deals with Wormald behind Tuco's back directly leads to his death when he probably could have just kept his head down and stayed in the good graces of The Cartel for years.
  • Nacho eventually realizes that if Tuco discovers his 'independent ventures', or even has a slight suspicion of them, he's a dead man, and hires Mike to help get rid of Tuco before that can happen (in fairness, Tuco is unstable enough that he might kill Nacho at any time for no real reason as well).
  • When Mike puts Tuco in prison, Hector simply takes his place as head of distribution in the South Valley, meaning Nacho is just working under a different, less unstable, but equally evil Salamanca. Hector ends up being an even worse boss, demanding that Nacho get his father to use his upholstery business as a front to smuggle meth over the border, which Nacho knows will lead to his father going to the police and ultimately getting killed.
  • This forces Nacho to try to kill Hector before that can happen, swapping his heart medication out for sugar pills without his knowledge. It doesn't work fast enough, meaning Nacho still has to destroy his relationship with his father by confessing his work with The Cartel and begging him to let Hector use his shop.
  • The pill swap eventually does successfully give Hector a stroke, but only after it's irrelevant, as Hector had just been ordered to drop the idea of him having his own front business and to use Gus's chicken trucks. The Cartel calls in the most dangerous and competent of the Salamanca clan, Lalo, to oversee operations in the South Valley, so Nacho gets his third evil overseer, and Gus discovers what Nacho did to provoke the stroke, meaning Gus now has complete power over him to demand his obedience as a double agent.
  • Since his father now knows that Nacho is working with The Cartel, he can easily recognize Nacho's attempts to get him to leave town as trying to keep him safe, and refuse, as in his mind the only solution is for Nacho to turn himself into the police. Nacho knows that will just result in both of them getting killed. This makes it trivial for Gus to use Nacho's love for his father as extra leverage.
  • Gus eventually orders Nacho to assist in an assassination attempt on Lalo, which puts him on the hitlist of The Cartel and Gus, who wants him dead before The Cartel can get their hands on him and force him to admit that Gus was pulling his strings. With no other choice, Nacho offers himself up to Gus, agreeing to implicate another gang in the hit on Lalo and then be killed in a staged escape attempt, to keep his father safe.
• Tragic Villain: He becomes one over the course of the series by the time he crosses paths with Hector Salamanca. While he is an adept criminal, all Nacho wants above everything else is to make sure his father is okay and isn't involved with the Cartel business in any way. The only reason Nacho switched Hector's pills to incite his heart attack and paralysis was because the latter threatened the former's father. Unfortunately, Gus finds out and is angry at this turn of events due to his own desire to exact revenge upon Hector so he practically enslaves Nacho into his service by threatening his father, much like Hector did. Ultimately, Nacho becomes a hopeless leash for both Gus and the Salamancas who want to kill him once his usefulness is expired, putting him in a death-or-death situation. In the end, Nacho kills himself partly to spite Gus and the Salamancas and to ensure his father is safe from the Cartel.
• Underestimating Badassery: He didn't have much of an opinion on Gus, just being the "chicken man" Hector doesn't like. He was not ready for how far Gus would go in the feud with Hector and how petty he can be if someone threatens his fun.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Nacho tampers with Hector's heart medication and causes him to suffer a stroke, which leaves him using a wheelchair. A bomb planted on said wheelchair is what eventually allows Walter White and Hector to take out Gus.
• Ungrateful Bastard: In "Hero". What does he do after getting bailed out of jail by Jimmy? Threaten him for ratting him out, of course. Jimmy, having had enough, points out that Nacho isn't as smart as he thinks.
• Villain Cred:
  • Implied to have this from Tuco, who's willing to listen to advice Nacho has to offer when they're in the desert with Jimmy. He also demands Krazy-8 stay quiet so that Nacho can count. Occasionally, characters distinguish Nacho as a friend of Tuco's.
  • He receives this from Lalo over the course of Season 5, starting from his crazy stunt in saving the product from the crackhouse.
• What the Hell, Hero?: He is not happy about Mike's truck ambush to put heat on Hector and while he calms down about that when pushed Nacho bluntly tells him someone innocent died because of Mike's stunt.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: In "Sabrosito", Arturo doesn't let a woman and child leave the restaurant. Nacho tells him non-verbally to let them go.
• White Shirt of Death: Nacho wears a white buttoned shirt with black lines on the last day of his life.

Krazy-8

See here.

Arturo Colón

Arturo Colon

"You're gonna back me up or what?"

Portrayed By: Vincent Fuentes

"That's how you do it. We had 'em pissing their pants."

A highly trusted subordinate of Hector Salamanca. He serves as his mouthpiece (though not quite his Dragon) and a dealer. He also gets along well with Nacho.

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• Acquired Situational Narcissism: After being put in temporary power while Hector has been hospitalized, he believes that he and Nacho are "running things". More obvious when he suggests they push to get 6 keys of product as they did before.
• Alas, Poor Villain: He may have been a little arrogant but from what we knew of him, he wasn’t anywhere near bad enough to deserve his horrific death at the hands of Gus. Nacho quietly mourns him after the fact.
• Anime Hair: He has a ridiculously elaborate ponytail. Many viewers find it funny if not bizarre.
• Beard of Evil: He sports a thin beard in addition to his more distinctive hairstyle, and although he isn't overtly evil, he still operates as muscle for Hector.
• The Brute: He serves as this to Hector, and is used to threaten, intimidate, and send warnings. However, while he's no idiot, he isn't as smart or competent as the likes of Nacho, Gaff, and Mike.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Gus seals a plastic bag over his head as Victor zip-ties his hands and feet, leaving him to slowly suffocate to death as Gus blackmails Nacho into working for him.
• Deader than Dead: Then, just to add insult to injury, his body gets shot up by Victor and Tyrus as part of a gambit to fake an "attack" on him, shot right in the head, then later burnt by the Cousins to dispose of the scene.
• Just Following Orders: Arturo doesn't seem particularly sadistic or cruel; he just does as he's told, and sometimes he's told to intimidate or hurt people, which he does without hesitation but without relish.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: He outright tells Mike that he was supposed to scare him after he fails. However, Arturo isn't smart enough to know when not to piss off Gus Fring.
• Mouth of Sauron: Part of his job, apparently; he's sent ahead of Hector to communicate his wishes when the matter isn't vital enough for Hector to appear himself. Hector certainly makes a decent enough Sauron.
• Non-Promotion: With Hector absent, he and Nacho are given the position of temporary leadership over Salamanca territory in New Mexico, but not much changes in terms of work. He still gets a sort of inflated ego over it, however.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Arturo is fairly threatening in his own right, but he's completely schooled by the much more experienced Mike. He's also a fairly small fish when the rest of the pond supports the likes of Gus Fring and the Salamancas.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Arturo recurred as muscle for Don Hector; he operated on roughly the same level of authority as Nacho and was someone that Nacho seemed to consider a friend - or at least a colleague he got along with. His sudden, brutal death serves multiple purposes for the characters and the show:
  • It shows that with Hector incapacitated, Gus feels a lot freer to take direct action.
  • Demonstrates Gus' ruthlessness firsthand to Nacho while establishing that the usually Non-Action Big Bad is a physical threat in his own right.
  • Hammers home to Nacho just how precarious his situation is and the cost of misplaced ambition.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Mostly really seen when he and Nacho are assigned to hold Salamanca territory down until Hector recovers.
  Victor: Your boss isn't giving orders. He can barely even open his eyes.
  Arturo: I'm giving the orders.
• Smug Snake: After Hector is hospitalized and Bolsa puts him and Nacho in charge of the Salamanca territory in the U.S., he acts like he runs the place and there is nothing to worry about. He even tries to take more than agreed on during his meeting with Los Pollos Hermanos like Hector did, which quickly earns him his death at the hands of Gus.
• The Stoic: He's a pretty stoic, no-nonsense muscleman for Hector.
• Tempting Fate: After threatening Victor and Tyrus for more out of a deal and seemingly getting away with it, he proudly boasts to Nacho on how they had them "pissing their pants." Cue Gus...

Blingy

Blingy

Portrayed By: KeiLyn Durrel Jones

Another dealer working for the Salamanca organization. After Tuco and Hector are taken out of play, he winds up being supervised by Krazy 8 and Nacho Varga.

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• The Ditz: He does not seem terribly bright compared to the other dealers Nacho meets weekly; when short on his payments in the drug dealing world, he doesn't show any apprehension or seem apologetic when meeting his boss, cheerily chattering it up Nacho like it's spilled milk. He's very fortunate Nacho is a Benevolent Boss in this line of work.
• Ear Ache: Nacho rips his earring out, seriously hurting his ear when he doesn't have enough money during a weekly check-in.
• Motor Mouth: He's ridiculously chatty, but unlike Krazy 8, who was trying to appeal to Nacho for sympathy over his screwups, Blingy seems to genuinely think there's no big deal in him being short on his payments.

Mouse & Arlo

Mouse & Arlo

Arlo and Mouse

Portrayed By: Adrienne Lovette & Spenser Granese

Two street-level dealers managing a crackhouse. They work under Krazy-8.

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• Dark Action Girl: Mouse is ready to defend herself and the product with a shotgun if necessary.
• Idiot Ball: Scenes establish Mouse as passing packets of drugs down the drainpipe of the house one at a time. When the skells ask for ten, she suddenly decides to dump all ten packets out at once. This causes a clog in the drain, which leads to the skells making a scene and attracting police.
• Locked Out of the Loop: They had no idea about who Lalo was and if it was okay to let him in. It leads to a quick misunderstanding that Nacho defuses just as fast.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: They desert the house when the police arrive on the scene, then bail without the product when feds surround it.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: Mouse's weapon of choice, presumably when dealing with unruly customers.
• Small Role, Big Impact: They play a role in the sequence of events that get Jimmy involved with the cartel again and put Krazy-8 into being a snitch to the DEA.

Other

Ximenez Lecerda

Ximenez Lecerda

Portrayed By: Manuel Uriza

A drug mule for the Cartel who smuggles drugs and cash through border crossings in a Regalo Helado ice cream truck.

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• Affably Evil: Although he's often treated like dirt by his boss, he still tries to comfort Hector after his meeting with Don Eladio fails.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The last we see of him is him begging for Hector to spare his life, swearing he had nothing to do with the hit on his truck.
• Alas, Poor Villain: He was a Cartel mule, but he didn't deserve to get tortured by Hector and then executed by the Cousins for a betrayal he didn't commit. Mike's solemn expression as he gets dragged to his grave implies he feels the same way, although he doesn't risk blowing his cover to try to save him.
• All There in the Manual: His full name is revealed in casting information, but not in the show itself (though his first name is mentioned in the opening flashback of "Sabrosito").
• Boom, Headshot!: Shot in the head by the Cousins and buried in an unmarked grave.
• Butt-Monkey: Is wrecked, beaten up, and completely humiliated by Mike. Then shot in the head by the Cousins.
• Extreme Doormat: Since he's terrified of Hector and Don Eladio, he follows them around like a scared dog, and nods his head to everything the latter says when he criticises about the bobblehead Hector gave him.
• Minion with an F in Evil: Though he's capable of smuggling drugs over the border without arousing suspicion, as soon as he finds himself in any real trouble, he quickly breaks down.
• Mistaken for Betrayal: When his ice cream truck is robbed during a trip across the border, it's believed by Hector that he must have been in on it, as he believes his operation is so airtight there's no way an outsider could have known about the truck being a transport, much less know about the money being hidden in the tires. Also, the thief leaving him alive is so bizarre, that the assumption that he was helping with the heist is understandable. However, Ximenez was not in on it, as Mike was able to deduce their method of transporting money and drugs across the border on his own, and left him alive in an attempt to keep the collateral damage to a minimum. It's no shock that Hector doesn't buy Ximenez's story and executes him for his perceived betrayal. Although it's quite possible that Hector could have believed his story and still killed him just for allowing himself to get robbed at all.
• Trademark Favorite Food: The Regalo Helado popsicles he transports along with the money. He eats at least one in every smuggling mission, and he leaves a grave of popsicle sticks behind to mark the location of his buried gun.
• Trapped in Villainy: He came with the store Hector bought, it's clear he had no choice in the matter.
• You Have Failed Me: Hector no longer trusts him after Mike hits his truck, and has the Cousins execute him.

El Michoacano manager

Manager

Portrayed By: Jose E. Pintor

The cook and manager of El Michoacano, a restaurant where Tuco's branch of the cartel conducts operations. After Tuco is arrested, he finds himself playing host to Hector Salamanca and Nacho Varga.

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• Apathetic Citizens/Bystander Syndrome: Does nothing when Nacho drags Krazy-8 into the back for a beatdown, even though the sounds of the beating are clearly audible in the main section of the restaurant.
• Put on a Bus: It's suggested that Lalo replaced him as the cook during cartel hours, leading to him disappearing entirely from the show.
• Recurring Extra: Has little to no importance to the plot, but always appears in the background whenever his restaurant is the sight of Cartel operations.
• The Quiet One: Rarely talks.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Completely disappears following a single appearance after Lalo arrives and takes over his restaurant.

Tiburón

Tiburón

Portrayed By: Corey Eubanks

A Mook from a Colombian cartel hit squad that Juan Bolsa sends to intercept Lalo's bail money, which is unfortunately in Jimmy's hands to deliver.

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• Boom, Headshot!: Mike finally kills him by shooting him in the head as he's rushing to run Jimmy over.
• Car Fu: Tries to run over Jimmy with his car after spotting him with the money. This almost ends in Jimmy's death, as Mike was counting on him getting out of the car to shoot him.
• Dead-Hand Shot: After Mike snipes him and he crushes his car, this is how we know he's dead for sure.
• Determinator: He absolutely refuses to give up on his mission, hounding Mike and Jimmy for days 24/7 and bringing them to the brink of death. Considering how unforgiving the cartel can be, he likely had a reason to be so desperate.
• Karmic Death: His stubbornness in getting the money gets him killed when Mike snipes him like his colleagues as he tries to run over Jimmy. Had he given up at any point during those two days, he would've made it out of the desert alive.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: He flees the initial shootout with Mike, knowing he can't win there. But rather than pack up and go home empty-handed, he hunts down Mike and Jimmy in a meticulous fashion for days.
• Near-Villain Victory: Mike admittedly could not survive the desert trip without Jimmy. Had he killed Jimmy, it's likely Mike would have died as well on top of failing his mission to Gus. And he came damn close, with Mike betting it all on sniping him moments before he ran over Jimmy.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: He's just a Mook but not only does he survive the massacre of his whole unit, he has also the cunning and skills to almost come out on top.
• Villain of the Week: He's the main antagonist of the episode Bagman but is killed by the end of it.

Ciro

Ciro

"Sorry..."

Portrayed By: Ulysses Montoya

"Boss, I swear to god, I got myself a lighter. See? It wasn't me!"

The youngest of Lalo's Chihuahua staff and one of his loyal bodyguards, who Lalo has apparently known since he was a child.

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• Affably Evil: From what we see of him, Ciro seems to be a normal teenager (apart from the whole "smoking cigarettes" thing) who just so happens to be serving and acting as a bodyguard for Lalo since he was a child.
• The Baby of the Bunch: The youngest of Lalo's associates in Chihuahua, and was only 17-years old at the time of his death.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: Lalo is leagues above him in both smarts and strength, to the point that he mostly treats Ciro as something of an Annoying Younger Sibling and has him unpack his things.
• Bulletproof Human Shield: Used by Lalo to block a bullet from one of the assassins' sent by Gus, resulting in his death.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Only appears twice before dying, but his death (along with the rest of the Lalo's staff) causes Lalo to go after Gus and Nacho in an attempt to avenge their deaths. Said attempt drives the majority of Season 6A's plot.
• Walking Spoiler: It's impossible to know anything about Ciro, without revealing Nacho's betrayal of Lalo and Lalo surviving said attempt on his life in Something Unforgivable.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Dies at the hands of Gus' assassins not very long after he's introduced.