Tuco Salamanca
Vital statistics
Portrayed By	Raymond Cruz
Occupation(s)	Cartel Leader, Drug Kingpin
Status	Deceased
Episode Count	4
First Appearance	Crazy Handful of Nothin'
Last Seen	Grilled
Images of Tuco Salamanca

Tuco Salamanca was a sociopathic Mexican drug kingpin who briefly became Walter and Jesse's meth distributor.

He was unpredictable and prone to violent outbursts, yet, he respected Walter because of his superior product, intelligence, business style, and guts.

Character HistoryEdit

After the disappearance of Krazy-8, Tuco evidently became one of the most powerful and influential dealers of Albuquerque. Tuco is known for his erratic personality and propensity for extreme violence. His family is also tied to the Juarez Cartel, as his uncle Hector Salamanca was one of the highest ranking members of the cartel. Tuco's cousins were hit-men for the cartel also.

Season 1Edit

Walt and Jesse decide to do business with Tuco in search of a distribution network for their new product. Skinny Pete leads Jesse to Tuco's hideout and Jesse attempts to sell the product to Tuco. Despite enjoying the product, Tuco does not give Jesse the $35,000 because the bag of meth was a pound short. This results in Jesse attempting to take the bag and running away before receiving a brutal beating from Tuco that left him hospitalized ("Crazy Handful of Nothin'").

After Walt learns of the events that occurred in the hideout, he decides to take matters into his own hands. After arriving at the hideout and personally meeting Tuco, he presents himself as "Heisenberg". Walt brings out his bag of meth and asks for $50,000. $35,000 for the meth that Tuco stole, and another $15,000 for Jesse's pain and suffering. Tuco becomes visually amused and questions Walt's lack of street sense because of Tuco's beating of Jesse and Walt arriving to bring him more meth. However, Walt reveals that the bag of meth was not what it seemed, but as fulminated mercury. Walt throws a piece of the mercury on the floor and causes an explosion, leaving the hideout in ruin. With the rest of the bag in possession, Walt threatens to throw the entire bag but Tuco agrees to pay all of his debts. Walt then tells Tuco to pay his money "up front", and offers two pounds of his meth instead of one ("Crazy Handful of Nothin'").

Tuco and his henchmen meet again on a landfill, where Walt extends his offer to four pounds after a "production problem". Instead of producing with pseudoephedrine, Walt uses methylamine to deliver the amount of meth he promised in time. As they meet up once again, Walt delivers the bag of meth to Tuco and they start a business together. At the end of their meet, Tuco's henchman No-Doze unconsciously states to "remember who you're working for". Tuco interprets this as a lack of respect to their new partners and violently beats him to death as Gonzo conceals the beaten body ("A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal").

Season 2Edit

After beating No-Doze to death, Tuco sends Gonzo to conceal his body. Walt and Jesse were horrified after witnessing the scene and begin to fear that Tuco will mark them both for death. Furthermore, after Gonzo conceals No-Doze's body, he causes a vehicle to fall on his arm, bleeding him to death ("Seven Thirty-Seven").

Tuco flees from his hideout just in time as the DEA raids the place. Tuco then kidnaps Walt and Jesse and take them to a cabin where his uncle Hector Salamanca lives. Unaware the Gonzo is dead, Tuco believed that Gonzo was the one who turned him in to the DEA and felt betrayed stating that he treated Gonzo like a brother ("Grilled"). Tuco mentions plans of taking Walt to a superlab in Mexico so they could "cook 24/7". He also states that he had connections with the people there so the DEA could not interfere with his business. Walt and Jesse attempt to poison Tuco with ricin with a small bag of meth but it ultimately fails in the process of when Jesse explains that the meth contained chili powder. As Tuco prepares burritos for Walt, Jesse, and his uncle, Walt attempts to sneak in the ricin into Tuco's burrito but Tuco's uncle interferes. Tuco's uncle then attempts to message Tuco that Walt and Jesse were attempting something against Tuco, which then Tuco pulls a gun on them.

As Tuco demands to know what Walt and Jesse were up to, Walt explains that they tried to poison him because he was "an insane, degenerate piece of filth, who deserves to die". As Tuco was distracted by Walt's comments, Jesse strikes Tuco's head with a rock and shoots him in the stomach. Both run to Jesse's car but they forget the keys. They then see another vehicle in the distance and assume that it were Tuco's cousins and flee. Tuco manages to stand up despite his wounds and approaches Jesse's car. He is confronted by Hank who sought to locate Jesse by tracking the location of his car. After a brief moment of silence, Hank realizes that he had found Tuco and withdraws his gun. Tuco grabs a machine gun and violently shoots at Hank in which Hank uses his car for cover. Hank ultimately shoots Tuco in the head as Tuco was reloading ("Grilled").

Season 3Edit

It is revealed that Tuco was not only powerful in Albuquerque, but had ties to a Ciudad Juárez Cartel, and his uncle was, in fact, a highly influential member before his health deteriorated. Tuco's cousins, hitmen for the cartel, are summoned to Albuquerque to kill Walt as retribution for Tuco's death.

Tuco's VictimsEdit

• Dog Paulsen (Whacked in 1998)
• Unnamed Mexican national (Knifed in 2003)
• No-Doze (Beaten in 2008)