Nacho Varga

Season 1

Tuco Salamanca has a run-in with Jimmy McGill, and has Nacho and other associates drag Jimmy to the desert to kill him. Nacho believes Jimmy's plea that he is a lawyer and convinces Tuco to let him go. Jimmy later tries to represent the Kettlemans, a family accused of embezzling $1.6 million. Nacho approaches Jimmy about trying steal the money from the Kettlemans, but Jimmy refuses. He warns the Kettlemans, who disappear from their home. Nacho is the prime suspect and is arrested. He coerces Jimmy into helping clear his name and Jimmy locates the Kettlemans, which leads to Nacho's release.

Nacho later engages in a drug deal with Daniel Wormald ("Pryce"), who wants to sell pills stolen from the pharmaceutical company where he works. On their first exchange, Daniel brings Mike Ehrmantraut as a bodyguard. When Mike realizes Nacho's payment is twenty dollars short, he insists that Nacho pay the full amount, and Nacho begrudgingly hands over the money. As Daniel and Mike drive away, Mike explains that he researched Nacho before the deal and knew he was making the purchase without the Salamancas' knowledge, giving him an incentive to ensure that the deal went smoothly.

Season 2

Daniel uses the money from his sales to Nacho to buy a flashy Hummer. At the next buy, Mike refuses to help Daniel because he's drawing too much attention to himself. Daniel makes the deal alone, and Nacho learns his real name and address from the vehicle registration in the Hummer's glove compartment. He later breaks into Daniel's home to steal back his money and at the same time steals a valuable baseball card collection. Daniel is determined to get his cards back and reports the theft to the police. The police visit Daniel's home to investigate, and find an empty secret hiding place behind his couch. Mike is concerned that the police will figure out why Daniel had a hiding place, which will lead them to his involvement in Daniel's drug deals, so he offers to get the cards back. Mike then convinces Nacho to return the baseball cards and the money in exchange for Daniel's Hummer. Nacho is impressed by Mike's calm demeanor under pressure, and offers to pay him to kill Tuco, whose instability is making the Salamancas' business more difficult to conduct. Mike refuses to kill Tuco, but fakes a vehicle accident that causes Tuco to assault Mike in view of the police. Tuco is charged for assault with a deadly weapon and goes to prison, accomplishing Nacho's aim of removing him from the day to day operations of the Salamanca drug business.

Mike becomes concerned when Hector offers to pay him to tell the police that the gun at the assault was Mike's, which would reduce Tuco's sentence. Worried that Hector may find out the incident was staged, he tries to direct police attention to the Salamanca drug operation by hijacking one of the trucks smuggling drugs over the border and stealing the US$250,000 hidden inside one of the tires. Mike left the driver tied up but alive, but learns from Nacho the good Samaritan who freed the driver was killed as part of a Salamanca effort to cover up evidence of the hijacking.

Season 3

Nacho continues to work for Hector, but becomes concerned about his methods, including employing violence to keep dealers in line. Because of the attack on his truck, Hector looks for an alternative to smuggling his drugs from Mexico, and decides on Manuel's car customization and restoration shop. Nacho objects, but Hector is insistent, and in persuading his father to acquiesce for his own safety, Nacho is forced to reveal his involvement with the Salamancas. Manuel reluctantly accepts Hector's first payment, but Nacho becomes fearful that Hector is still suspicious. After observing Hector taking nitroglycerin for his angina, Nacho has Daniel counterfeit a placebo version containing only ibuprofen. Nacho intends to replace Hector's capsules with the fakes in hopes of surreptitiously killing Hector by causing a fatal heart attack. Mike advises Nacho that if Hector does suffer a heart attack, Nacho should immediately take the fake capsules from him and put the real ones in their place, so that the cause of the attack won't be obvious. Nacho succeeds in making the switch, and Hector begins taking the fake capsules. Juan Bolsa later meets with Hector, Gus and Nacho and says that because of the attacks on the Salamanca trucks, Don Eladio has decreed that Salamanca drug shipments will now be smuggled in Gus' trucks. Hector has an attack, and reaches for his medication, but falls to the ground unconscious. Gus performs first aid that saves Hector and the meeting participants wait for an ambulance to transport him to a hospital. Nacho replaces Hector's placebos with the real capsules, but Gus appears to have noticed that something is amiss, and gives Nacho a suspicious look.

Season 4

As the ambulance arrives to take Hector to the hospital, Nacho tries to rid of the fake capsules, but Gus brings him directly to a meeting with Bolsa, who states that Nacho should keep the Salamanca's business running in Hector's absence. After this meeting, Nacho stops on his drive home and throws the counterfeit medication into the river, unaware that Tyrus is observing him. Nacho and Arturo come by to pick up their next drug supply, and Arturo strong arms his way into taking six kilos instead of the agreed upon five. Arturo brags about his ploy as he and Nacho walk back to their car, but Gus ambushes them and suffocates Arturo with a plastic bag over his head. Gus has seen Hector's medical reports and realizes there is no nitroglycerin in Hector's system. He tells Nacho he knows Nacho was responsible for Hector's stroke, but the Salamancas don't, and as a result Nacho is now under his control. Gus now executes his plan to use Nacho to undermine the Salamanca organization. Victor, Tyrus and Nacho drive in two cars to a remote stretch of road, and they place Arturo's body in Nacho's car. They shoot Arturo's body and riddle the car with gunshots to make it appear Nacho and Arturo were attacked by the same people who previously hijacked the Salamanca's truck. Tyrus and Victor shoot Nacho twice and take the drugs from Nacho's car. Nacho calls The Cousins for help, and they succeed in transporting him to Dr. Caldera, who saves Nacho's life but insists that he visit a real doctor to ensure there are no complications.

Victor later sells the drugs from Nacho's car to the rival Espinosa gang. Nacho then falsely identifies one of the Espinosas as having taken part in the attack on his car. The Cousins attack the Espinosa compound, kill everyone inside (with a timely assist from a still-recovering Nacho), and reclaim the "stolen" drugs. The Cousins return to Mexico to avoid police scrutiny, and Nacho meets with Gus to inform him about the details of the attack. Nacho realizes that by provoking the Salamancas to kill the Espinosas, Gus has secured more drug dealing territory for himself. Gus tells Nacho that Nacho's work isn't done yet, and Nacho hides at his father's house while he recovers from his wounds. After several months, a recovered Nacho plays a larger role in the Salamanca operation, though he also keeps a safe with cash and false Canadian identity cards for himself and his father. He is surprised when Lalo, another member of the Salamanca family, arrives to aid in running the business, and takes a stronger interest in the day-to-day details than Hector did.

Breaking Bad

Nacho did not appear in Breaking Bad, but is named in the second season episode "Better Call Saul", the same episode that introduced Saul Goodman. In the episode "Better Call Saul", Walter White and Jesse Pinkman threaten Saul at gunpoint into representing Badger after Badger is arrested for selling drugs. Unaware who his captors are, Saul tries to pin some type of blame on "Ignacio", who is later confirmed by producers to be the same person as the character Nacho Varga who appears in the series Better Call Saul.^[1]