Lalo Salamanca

Lalo Salamanca
Portrayed by	Tony Dalton
Character information
Full name	Eduardo Salamanca
Aliases	Lalo Jorge De Guzman
Age	40s-50s
Fate
Status	Alive (see trivia)
Social life
Occupation	Juárez Cartel member
Residence	Lalo's Chihuahua House (former)
Family	Abuelita (grandmother) Hector Salamanca (uncle) † Tuco Salamanca (cousin) † Marco and Leonel Salamanca (cousins) † Joaquin Salamanca (first cousin once removed) †
Appearances in Breaking Bad
First	——
Last	——
Appearances in Better Call Saul
First	"Coushatta"
Last	——
Appearance in El Camino
✘ No

“	Ah, I'm just here to lend a helping hand, you know, make sure the business is running in order. I got a good head for numbers. But listen, don't even worry. It's gonna be like I'm not even here.	„
	― Lalo to Nacho after introducing himself.

Eduardo "Lalo" Salamanca is a member of the Juárez Cartel and is the grandson of Abuelita, the nephew of Don Hector Salamanca and the cousin of Tuco, Marco, Leonel and Joaquin.

After his uncle was put out of commission due to his stroke, Lalo took his position at El Michoacáno. He aimed towards stripping down Gustavo Fring's Drug Empire, which initiated a battle between him and the empire. After surviving an assassination attempt orchestrated by Gus, Lalo sets off for revenge against him and Nacho Varga, whom he discovered betrayed him.

History

Background Information

Lalo was born in Mexico and was raised by his uncle, Hector, as an enforcer of the Juárez Cartel like his cousins Tuco, Leonel, Marco, and Joaquin. Like his uncle, he is a sadistic murderer and once assisted his uncle in torturing a hotel proprietor for disrespecting the two of them and burning the proprietor to death and his hotel down, keeping a desk bell as a souvenir of the ordeal.

Better Call Saul

Season 4

Nacho Varga meets Lalo.

Nacho Varga arrives at El Michoacáno where Hector Salamanca runs his business and finds Lalo in the kitchen making food. Though Lalo offers the food to Nacho, stating that it's delicious and a family recipe, Nacho refuses, recognizing that Lalo has been sent by the Salamancas. Lalo confirms this and introduces himself as Eduardo, though he invites Nacho to call him by his nickname of Lalo. Lalo explains that he has been sent to help keep the business running and sits down to meet with the local dealers. ("Coushatta")

Lalo talking to Hector Salamanca.

After his disabled uncle is moved to Casa Tranquila, Lalo and Nacho go and pay him a visit. Lalo addresses Hector, remembering an incident where the two of them burned down a hotel and tortured the proprietor for showing disrespect. Lalo goes on to say that he went back into the hotel as it was burning, and retrieved a souvenir that he has kept for years. He presents the souvenir to Hector as a gift: the bell from the hotel's front desk. Lalo ties the bell to the armrest of Hector's wheelchair, allowing him to ring it for the first time, then speaks to Hector in private about "the Chilean" before leaving with apparent new orders from the Don.

Lalo and Nacho pay a visit to Los Pollos Hermanos for lunch and are greeted by Gus. Lalo enthusiastically compliments Gus for his chicken. Lalo is then invited back into Gus' office, where he thanks Gus on behalf of the Salamanca family for saving Hector's life. He also speculates that Eladio enjoys exploiting the "bad blood" between Gus and the Salamancas, implying that he's seeking an alliance against the don. Gus picks up that Lalo is trying to get him to show dissatisfaction against the cartel, so he replies that he is "satisfied with the current arrangement" and shakes Lalo's hand as he leaves. Outside the restaurant, Lalo asks Nacho to drive him to Gus' chicken farm. ("Wiedersehen")

He spies on Gus' operations and later follows Mike while the latter is looking for Werner Ziegler. Mike spots the tail, however, and loses Lalo by driving into a parking lot and then jamming the ramp on his way out, much to Lalo's frustration. Lalo proceeds to pay a visit to the TravelWire Mike went to. When he starts asking questions, Fred is uncooperative and tells him to call the police. While Fred is taking a call, Lalo sneaks above the ceiling paneling and drops into Fred's booth from above. He murders Fred, before reviewing the security footage and seeing the brochures Mike picked up. He calls the hotel Werner is staying in and pretends to be one of Gustavo's men. He questions Werner about a secret construction project before Mike interrupts Werner and takes the phone away from him. Lalo realizes he's talking to Mike and greets him before Mike hangs up. ("Winner")

Season 5

Back at El Michoacano, Lalo struggles to figure out who Werner Ziegler and "Michael" are and what they have to do with Gus's mysterious construction project. He learns from Nacho and Domingo of a rumor that a competing drug gang has been "stepping on" the Salamanca family's business. Lalo decides to investigate with Nacho in tow, driving to a Salamanca hideout where packets of the cocaine from Gus's chicken farm are being kept for distribution. Lalo inspects each packet and determines that some of them are not cartel product.

Lalo and Bolsa meet with Gustavo Fring.

Later on, Lalo drives to the chicken farm to have a sit-down with Gus and Juan Bolsa over the altered cocaine. Gus falsely admits that he secretly replaced some of the cartel's cocaine with methamphetamine after Werner stumbled upon Gus's drug business and stole the product. When Lalo demands to know what "construction project" Werner was working on, Gus shows him and Bolsa a massive structure being built by Werner's men for an industrial chiller. Lalo is personally introduced to Mike, who is "supervising" the crew. With Lalo seemingly mollified, Bolsa tells Gus that Eladio is not pleased with the breach and warns him not to keep secrets from the cartel again. Outside the chicken farm, Bolsa confronts Lalo for spying on Gus's operation and murdering the TravelWire employee. Lalo replies that he is simply looking after the interests of his uncle Hector, who believes that Gus is holding a grudge against the cartel after Hector executed his "boyfriend." Bolsa insists that Gus is solely concerned with business, to which Lalo expresses skepticism due to an unspecified past incident in Santiago. Bolsa says that Gus will never be "one of us" but that he's a good earner who keeps Eladio happy, which is all that matters. Lalo then tells Bolsa that he has no further issues with Gus. ("Magic Man")

Lalo visits his uncle, Hector, at Casa Tranquila and discusses Gus' mysterious new construction project. Lalo doesn't buy Gus' cover story about building a new chicken refrigeration facility and expresses disapproval that Bolsa and Don Eladio seem to believe Gus. Hector hints that as long as Gus is making money for the cartel, this situation will persist. Later, Lalo and his men are sitting around at night playing poker. Lalo bluffs with 7+2 off-suit (worst possible hand) and raised, Domingo has pair 8s with an 8 on the table, giving him a triple 8. He knows he would win but folds to not insult Lalo. Lalo looks at his cards after showing his terrible hand and calls him crazy for folding, then calling him “Ocho Loco," (Spanish for Krazy-8) giving birth to his future criminal nickname. Domingo gets a call from one of the fifth street dealers saying there's a problem, so Nacho orders him to go and solve the issue.

Mouse, Arlo and Lalo watching Nacho's mission.

However, Domingo is caught by the police while trying to get ten cocaine packets unstuck from a rain gutter. Lalo, Mouse, Arlo and Nacho sit in a car and survey the scene of the crime from a safe distance as police suit up to raid the stash house. Lalo asks if they were able to save any of the product before the cops came but Mouse said it's still in the house. Nacho, who has been secretly tasked by Gus to gain Lalo's trust, boldly decides to take matters into his own hands by climbing on the roofs of an adjacent building, then jumping onto the building where they gang has their product stored. The others watch tensely (Lalo even eating a snack) as a SWAT team lines up outside the door and prepares to breach it. Nacho climb in through the roof and salvages several bags of product before jumping out through a window just as the police swarm into the building. He surprises the gang members by coming back to the car and entering the passenger door unexpectedly; Lalo commends his actions, calling him a "badass". Back at El Michoacano, Lalo asks Nacho how long he's known "Krazy-8" and whether he's been inside jail before. Nacho replies that he's been family friends for a long time, and that Domingo has not been in jail but that he will keep his mouth shut. As Lalo stares at him, Nacho asks if he wants him to take care of it, but Lalo replies that he has something much better for Domingo in mind. ("50% Off")

Lalo has Nacho bring him Saul Goodman to a warehouse where Lalo is working on his car. Lalo and Nacho then explain to Saul that they need Domingo to confidentially report some drug money dead drops to the police - turns out that the dead drops belong to Gus' operation, it's Lalo's way to hit Gus hard. Saul is successful and later reports to Nacho and Lalo that not only Domingo released the information to two DEA agents, Hank and Gomez, but Domingo also became their personal snitch, giving Lalo a "direct hotline to the DEA" in case he needs it again. Lalo congratulates Nacho on finding a good criminal lawyer, and then implies that Saul will be working for them again in case they need him. ("The Guy For This")

Lalo is arrested.

Nacho has a meeting with Gus and Mike to inform them that Lalo plans on using Domingo to rat out all of Gus' dealers and potentially his legitimate business, putting him out of order and rendering him useless to the cartel. Using intel from Nacho, Mike manages to connect Lalo to the murder of Fred - the TravelWire employee Lalo murdered while pursuing Mike and Werner. Mike convinces a witness to give the police information about Lalo's car, and soon after, he gives Lalo's location away through a police chat radio. As Lalo is driving down the street after dropping Nacho off, he's stopped by a police car. He slowly reaches for his gun, but three other police cars show up to block his path, they order him to turn the engine off and drop the keys out the window. With no other option, Lalo does as he's told and gets arrested. ("Wexler v. Goodman")

Under the alias Jorge De Guzman, Lalo is charged for the murder of Fred among other charges. Lalo has Nacho bring Saul Goodman to represent him. In court, Saul tells the judge that the defendant pleads "not guilty". The judge denies bail to Lalo. Later in a private room, Lalo and Saul discuss about the case. Lalo wants neither a deal with prosecution nor a trial, he wants to be released on bail. Saul mentions that it will be very difficult to do that, since the charges against him are quite serious. Lalo tells him that he will be a friend of the cartel if he manages to do that. Later in prison, Lalo arranges for a smuggled cellphone and calls Nacho, putting him back in charge of the Salamanca business and, knowing that he has been arrested under Gus' influence, ordering him to burn down a Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant, still unaware that Nacho is secretly working for Gus as well. Mike gets intel from Nacho and later gives Saul all the tools he needs to get Lalo out of jail.

Back in the court, Saul tells the judge that the prime witness in the case was coached by a private detective. The prosecutor also admits of this fact. Saul even hired actors to play as Lalo's fake family to prove that he had community ties to Albuquerque. Based upon these factors, judge Xavier Parsons grants Lalo's bail for 7 million dollars in cash. Lalo says he can arrange for the money, but Saul has to pick it up personally. ("JMM")

Lalo and Kim Wexler in jail.

Lalo gives Saul instructions on where to go to pick up the money in the desert, but Saul refuses to take the risk. Lalo accepts this, but Saul changes his mind and asks for $100,000 to do the job. Though amused, Lalo agrees and Saul goes to collect Lalo's bail money from the Cousins. After Saul doesn't return home that night, Kim Wexler visits Lalo in jail under the guise of being a part of his legal team to find out where Saul went. Lalo is enraged to learn that Kim knows the truth until she reveals that she is Saul's wife. Lalo is amused by this fact, but realizes that Saul didn't just betray him and run off with the money. However, he refuses to help Kim find Saul and leaves. ("Bagman")

After reaching Albuquerque with the help of Mike, Tyrus Kitt, and Victor, Saul is able to bail Lalo out, though Lalo having that much money makes the DA suspicious of who he really is. Saul claims car trouble for his delay with Lalo poking holes in his story, but ultimately seeming to accept it. Lalo is pleased that Saul came through for him, but Saul warns that the seven million dollars has drawn suspicion. Lalo reveals that he intends to jump bail and return to Mexico, but states that he's not done with Saul yet as they are going to do "big things" together. As he gets picked up by Nacho, Lalo reveals Kim's visit and compliments her to Saul's shock. Gus subsequently realizes that the men who tried to intercept Lalo's bail money were actually hired by Juan Bolsa to protect the cartel's interests and by extension Gus'.

The next day, Lalo visits Hector at Casa Tranquila and warns that the police will be after him for quite some time and he must return to Mexico. Lalo reassures Hector that he will have Don Eladio's ear and can sabotage Gus' business by making Eladio sick of "the Chicken Man." Lalo also reminds Hector that Tuco gets out of prison in eleven months and can take over the cartel's operations north of the border then. As a birthday party starts, Lalo is forced to leave, reminding his uncle that "family is everything." He then orders Nacho to take him to the border followed in secret by Victor.

Nacho transports Lalo to the same spot where Saul picked up the bail money in order for Lalo to be picked up by the Cousins. As Nacho drives away, Lalo suddenly stops him and orders him to drive six or seven miles away as Saul said that was where his car broke down. Lalo finds the wrecked car with bullet holes on the side. Returning to Nacho's car, Lalo orders him to take Lalo back to Albuquerque and states that he will get a message to the Cousins about the change of plans later.

Lalo visits Saul and Kim.

Lalo subsequently shows up at Saul and Kim's home and refuses to let Kim leave as he demands answers from Saul about what actually happened when he picked up the money. Lalo keeps pushing Saul for the truth about what happened, unaware that Mike is listening in over Saul's hidden phone. Lalo makes it clear that he doesn't intend to leave while Mike aims a sniper rifle at him from across the street. Lalo once again refuses Saul's request to let Kim leave and reveals that he found Saul's car and pushes for the truth about what actually happened. Kim points out all that Saul has done for Lalo and demands to know what he wants and Lalo explains about the wrecked car filled with bullet holes. Kim claims that someone probably found the car, shot it up and rolled it in a ditch and guesses that Lalo chose Saul as Saul was the only one he could trust and that if he can't trust his men with his money, Lalo has bigger problems than Saul Goodman who doesn't lie to Kim or his clients. Kim orders Lalo to find another solution next time and not turn on the one person who went through hell to save him. Seemingly satisfied, Lalo departs and orders Nacho to take him to Mexico. However, it is not to the same place as Lalo has had a change of plans and they have a long way ahead of them. ("Bad Choice Road")

The next day, Lalo and Nacho arrive at the Salamanca Estate in Chihuahua, Mexico. Being greeted by one of his guards at the entrance gate, they pull into the driveway and Lalo cheerfully greets his household. He introduces Nacho to his housemaid Yolanda, his gardener Cecilio and all of his men, telling them that Nacho is his friend from "up north" who's staying with them for a while. Later that morning, while fixing one of his cars, Lalo explains to Nacho that they'll be visiting Don Eladio and gives him some tips on how to make Eladio like him and promote him within the cartel. They then drive out to Don Eladio's Hacienda, where Lalo once again cheerfully greets everyone he comes across until he approaches Don Eladio and Juan Bolsa, they throw in some jokes about Lalo's arrest in the US and how he had to pay for his release. In an attempt to please Don Eladio, Lalo gives him a brand new car as a gift with a box filled with money in the trunk. He then introduces Nacho to Eladio, saying that Nacho is the one who has taken care of the Salamanca territory in New Mexico after Hector's health deteriorated. Don Eladio quickly makes a joke about Nacho's mental state once he hears he's friends with Tuco. As Don Eladio pulls Nacho aside to have a chat, Lalo keeps watching from afar.

Unbeknownst to Lalo, Gus has hired a group of assassins to infiltrate his estate at night and kill him. Nacho has been aware of this plan, as he was instructed to open the south gate for them at 3 a.m. before leaving. At night, Nacho sneaks through the house and to the back but encounters Lalo resting and having a drink next to a bonfire right beside the gate. Lalo invites Nacho to have a drink and compliments him on getting Don Eladio's favor, claiming that he's halfway from becoming a Salamanca himself. Knowing he needs to cause a distraction, Nacho asks Lalo for a stronger drink and Lalo tells him to go inside and get one, Nacho uses the opportunity to cause a smoke distraction with hot oil in a frying pan in the kitchen, which ends up working as Lalo quickly runs inside, allowing Nacho to let the assassins in and escape. Lalo is berating one of his men for the incident at the kitchen when he spots an assassin through the window and ducks behind his guard just in time, using him as a human shield. More assassins walk in after the guard is dead, but Lalo throws the hot oil from the frying pan on the face of one of them. The second assassin manages to shoot Lalo in the leg, so he quickly ducks behind the counter and makes a run to the bathroom. Lalo locks the door behind him and opens a secret escape tunnel from under the bathtub, but leaves the escape hatch open to lure the assassins into a trap. Lalo quickly crawls down the tunnel that leads him outside the estate, pulling out his pistol and walking back into the Estate. As the assassins investigate the secret passage, Lalo ambushes one of them and shoots him in the head. He then proceeds to use the dead assassin's assault rifle to take out the remaining assassins that entered the tunnel.

Lalo after the massacre.

Outside, Lalo comes across the assassin whose face was burned trying to crawl away from the carnage. As Lalo turns him over, the assassin quickly admits that he's not sure who hired him as there was a middle man. However, Lalo claims that he has already figured it out, and forces the assassin to send a message through the radio stating that the job was done and that Lalo is dead. Lalo spots Nacho's drink from earlier still untouched, confirming his suspicion that Nacho was involved. He spots Yolanda dead at the entrance driveway and proceeds to angrily leave the area. ("Something Unforgivable")

Breaking Bad

Season 2

When Saul Goodman is kidnapped by Walter White and Jesse Pinkman and taken to the desert, Saul assumes that it is Lalo who has abducted him and starts begging for his life, blaming Ignacio for what happened, swearing he's always been friends with the cartel. After realizing Walter and Jesse's confusion, he understands he had mistaken them for Lalo's men and sighs in relief. ("Better Call Saul")

Season 4

After conquering the cartel, Gus visits Hector at Casa Tranquila and sadistically informs him that every other Salamanca is dead, which suggests that Lalo died at some point of time. ("Crawl Space")

Personality

"La familia es todo."

―Lalo rephrasing Hector Salamanca's teachings about family being everything.

Lalo and his uncle Don Hector scheming against Gus.

Lalo is shown to be a cruel, highly intelligent, sadistic, somewhat humorous and exuberant man who is blindly loyal to the Juárez Cartel and his family members. Lalo is shown to be very capable of cold-blooded murder as seen when he brutally murdered Fred in order to discover what Mike was up to and as revealed by a story he enthusiastically recounted of torturing and burning a hotel proprietor to death alongside his uncle and keeping his uncle's famed desk bell as a souvenir. During his bail hearing, Lalo shows a complete lack of remorse for killing Fred, as well as total indifference to the victim's family being there. Lalo is shown to be a skilled investigator as well as seen during his tailing of Mike and his search for Werner Ziegler, showing his dedication to accomplishing whatever goal he is focused on. He is also shown to be a skilled combatant and killer as he was single-handily able take out at least 5 assassins sent by Gus to kill him and also cunning as seen by him faking his own death in order to exact revenge on Gus and Nacho.

Despite his villainous nature, Lalo is shown to genuinely care for his family members, notably his disabled uncle and also his servants and close friends who reside at his estate with him as seen by his barely contained rage following their deaths as a result of the assassination attempt.

Deaths

Murders committed by Lalo

• Hotel Proprietor: Tortured and burned alive alongside his uncle for disrespecting them, told in a story ("Wiedersehen")
• Fred Whalen: Bludgeoned to death off-screen. ("Winner")
• 5 of Gus’ Hitmen: Shot to death in self defense. ("Something Unforgivable")

Murders connected to Lalo

• Ciro: Used as a human shield against hitmen sent after him by Gus. ("Something Unforgivable")

Appearances

Better Call Saul

Episodes	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4								✔	✔	✔
Season 5	✔	✔	✔			✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Season 6

Trivia

• Lalo's fate by the start of Breaking Bad is unknown. In the episode "Better Call Saul", Jimmy as Saul Goodman mistakes Walt and Jesse for Lalo's men, which would suggest he survived during the events of Better Call Saul. However, in the episode "Crawl Space", Gus taunts Hector that the entire Salamanca family, aside from Hector, is dead. So it's possible that he died somewhere between those two episodes and Gus is somehow responsible for Lalo's death. Or, Jimmy might simply not be aware of Lalo's death. It is also possible Jimmy thought his men or the Salamanca family wanted revenge.
  • Given the turn of events in "Something Unforgivable" of Lalo surviving an assassination attempt by Gus’ men and having faked his own death to him, it may be possible he is still alive. This is provided that in Season 6, either Gus never finds out about Lalo’s survival whilst Jimmy does, or that Lalo would later fake his death again and/or “disappears”. However this is highly unlikely due to the highly vengeful nature of the Salamanca family, as Lalo most likely will stop at nothing to hunt down both Gus and Nacho. Given Gus' vendetta against the Salamanca family it is more than likely he is aware that Lalo is truly dead. In addition to Season 6, Peter Gould questions: "What's gonna happen when Gus and Mike find out that Lalo is on his way back to Albuquerque?"
• Lalo never meets Chuck McGill and has not yet met Howard Hamlin.
• Lalo drives a 1970 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

Videos

Breaking Bad

Walter and Jesse kidnapped Saul

Better Call Saul

Better Call Saul

Lalo gets Hector the bell - Better Call Saul

Wiedersehen

Better Call Saul - Lalo meets Gus Fring

Wiedersehen

BETTER CALL SAUL 4 - LALO SALAMANCA best scene HD

Winner

Better Call Saul 5x03 Saul Meets Lalo Salamanca

The Guy For This

Better Call Saul - Lalo's Arrest

Wexler v. Goodman

Saul and Lalo - Better Call Saul

Bagman

So You're His Wife - Lalo Meets Kim - Better Call Saul

Bagman

Better Call Saul S05 E09 Clip 'Kim Faces Off Against Lalo' Rotten Tomatoes TV

Bad Choice Road

Better Call Saul 5x10 Season Finale

Something Unforgivable