Gus Fring

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## Magnificent Baddie

### Alias

Gustavo Fring
Gus
The Chicken Man
He Who Shall Not Be Named
The Chilean

### Allies

Nacho Varga †
Juan Bolsa †
Don Eladio †
Werner Ziegler and his men †
Victor †
Walter White †
Saul Goodman
Jesse Pinkman  (all formerly)
Los Pollos Hermanos employees
Max Arciniega † (lover)
Lyle
Cynthia
Lydia Rodarte-Quayle †
Peter Schuler †
Mike Ehrmantraut †
David
Tyrus Kitt †
Gale Boetticher †

### Powers/Skills

Genius-level intelligence
Military training and knowledge (implied)
Psychological manipulation
Criminal intuition
Business management
Vast wealth and resources
Charisma
Intimidation
Strategic mind
Torture methodology

### Goals

Kill Lalo Salamanca.
Take revenge on the Cartel (both succeeded).
Keep his meth operation running and make more money (temporarily succeeded).
Copy Walter White's recipe for "Blue Sky", then kill him and Jesse Pinkman once he has the recipe (failed).
Kill his archenemy, Hector Salamanca, in order to avenge Max’s death. (failed)

### Crimes

Organized crime
Drug trafficking
Mass murder
Mass poisoning
Kidnapping
Torture
Psychological abuse
Abuse of power
Blackmail
Conspiracy
Smuggling
Animal cruelty
Arson
Treason
Vigilantism
Death threats
Sabotage
Corruption
Racketeering
Corpse desecration
Child murder by proxy (presumably)

### Type of MB

Vengeful Mastermind

**Gustavo "Gus" Fring** is the main antagonist of the *Breaking Bad* franchise. He is the main antagonist in *Breaking Bad,* serving as a supporting character in Season 2, the main antagonist of Seasons 3 & 4 and the posthumous overarching antagonist of Season 5. He is also a major character in *Better Call Saul,* being an unseen character in Seasons 1 & 2 and a major character in other seasons.

He is a Chilean national and respected Albuquerque restaurateur/philanthropist who owned a successful chain of chicken restaurants, Los Pollos Hermanos, and used it as a front for an extremely successful methamphetamine distribution network in the southwestern United States. He's also the arch-nemesis and business rival of Hector Salamanca, due to the latter murdering his lover and partner Max Arciniega, and the arch-rival and former boss of Walter White.

He was portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito.

### Quick Answers

**What are Gustavo Fring's goals?**

 Gustavo Fring's goals were to kill Lalo Salamanca, take revenge on the Cartel, keep his meth operation running and make more money, and kill his archenemy, Hector Salamanca, in order to avenge Max's death.

 Provided by: Fandom

**What crimes did Gustavo Fring commit?**

 Gustavo Fring committed organized crime, drug trafficking, mass murder, mass poisoning, kidnapping, torture, psychological abuse, abuse of power, blackmail, conspiracy, smuggling, animal cruelty, arson, treason, vigilantism, death threats, sabotage, corruption, racketeering, and corpse desecration.

 Provided by: Fandom

**What makes Gustavo Fring magnificent?**

 Gustavo Fring is considered magnificent because of his charismatic performance, his genuine sense of honor and pragmatism, and his reputation as the craftiest and smartest character in the Breaking Bad franchise.

 Provided by: Fandom

**What makes Gustavo Fring a baddie?**

 Gustavo Fring is considered a baddie because of his involvement in organized crime, drug trafficking, and his willingness to commit heinous acts to achieve his goals.

 Provided by: Fandom

**What is Gustavo Fring's tragic background?**

 Gustavo Fring grew up in poverty and witnessed the death of his lover and partner Max in front of him by the Cartel, which serves as motivation for him to destroy the Cartel.

 Provided by: Fandom

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## What Makes Him Magnificent?

### In General/Background

* Esposito gave him a charismatic performance, with Gus always dressing fancy and never speaking to people in rude manner, even if his affability is mostly facade, not to mention his genuine sense of honor and huge pragmatism.
* Even his most despicable acts can be viewed as awesome given that good chunk of his victims were more viciously cruel than he was.
* He ultimately stands out as arguably the craftiest and smartest character in the whole franchise. The only person who could compete with him was Lalo Salamanca and even him Gus was able to defeat, while Walt defeated him with sheer dumb luck and with the information, he obtained at very end.
* He had genuine tragic background of growing in poverty, before witnessing death of his lover and partner Max in front of him by Cartel, which serves as motivation for him to destroy Cartel.
* According to him, when he was only 7 years old, he was the only member of his family who never gave up on dying lucuma tree and was able to save it, providing his family with lucumas, just showing how patient and hard working he was.
* He ran a successful chain of fast food restaurants that were in 16 states as front for his huge drug empire for 20 years, but at same he kept the restaurants themselves clean of drug dealing, showing his utter lack of needless harming. He was rich and influential enough to even own a hospital.
* He was disgusted at Hector for supposedly snitching to the DEA, showing he was honorable in his criminal enterprise.

### *Better Call Saul*

* He is able to quickly convince Eladio to let him handle his distribution instead of Hector.
* Immediately figures out that Nacho switched Hector's pills and uses it to turn him into his mole.
* Successfully tricked the Cousins into wiping out a gang for him so he could take over their territory.
* Carefully managed the construction of the superlab by accounting for the Cartel's investigation and Werner's defection.
* Blew up one of his restaurants with the help of Nacho to hide the fact that Nacho was working for him.
* Figured out that Lalo survived the assassination attempt by Gus through sheer look at Hector's face, knowing that's not the look of someone who just lost his nephew.
* Tricked the Cartel into thinking Nacho wasn't working for him, but for a Peruvian cartel, thus making sure he won't be investigated for betraying them.
* While originally fearing Lalo, Gus successfully managed to kill him, by tricking Lalo into leaving his guard down, before cutting off the power, and then rushing into a gun he left in the room *several weeks ago* to shoot him in the throat, showing his long-term planning along the way. He later managed to use Hector's paranoia towards him to hide his role in it from the Cartel.

### *Breaking Bad*

* Was friends with ASAC Merkert (who had no idea of his true occupation), just so that he can stay ten steps ahead of the DEA.
* Put up a Xanatos Gambit by setting up confrontation between Hank Schrader and Salamanca Twins: had Cousins kill Hank, then the DEA would investigate the Cartel instead of his restaurants, and had Hank kill the Cousins (the latter case happened), then the Cartel would lose two of its best hitmen.
* He nearly succeeds in turning Jesse against Walt, starting when he tests the former's competence by putting a fake hit out on him while he and Mike are doing a delivery. Walt only turned the tables after poisoning Brock and pinning the blame on Gus, something he couldn't predict.
* When Gaff tried to kill him, Gus fearlessly challenged him to do it, fully knowing that Gaff still couldn't kill him due to needing Gus's products.
* He successfully killed the remaining Cartel members by tricking them into drinking poisoned tequila, and even poisoning himself after taking some pills so he'd have enough time to puke it out in the bathroom all not to raise any suspicions. He also brought Mike and Jesse as his only bodyguards to garrote/shoot any *offensive* gangsters, with in the end, there were no causalities on his side.
* When Walt attempted to assassinate him with a car bomb, he quickly deduced that something is off about the situation and avoided using his car.
* Despite having a brief breakdown upon discovering Hector turned himself into a suicide bomber, Gus quickly regained his cool, as when *the right half of his face was blown up,* he calmly put on his tie for the last time before dying without fear.

## What Makes Him a Baddie?

* According to him, he captured coati, that was eating fruits from his tree when he was 7 years old, and chose to let it starve instead of killing it right away.
* In general, he lead one of the southwest's biggest drug empires.
* He has quite a few Bad Boss moments, such as:
	+ Implicitly ordering the murder of Tomas Cantillo, an 11-year-old, after Jesse orders him cut loose.
	+ Attempting to kill Walt and Jesse after Walt kills the drug dealers involved in murdering Tomas, and manipulating Gale so that he could learn Walt's recipe.
	+ Ordering Mike to kill Werner after the latter leaves just to see his wife, even nearly having her killed too.
	+ Threatening to kill Nacho's father for his inability to get information out of Lalo.
	+ Slitting Victor's throat with a box cutter for being at the crime scene of Gale's murder.
	+ In general being incredibly ungrateful towards Nacho despite the sacrifices he did to help him, making it so that he will die in the end.
	+ After Jesse supposedly betrayed him, Gus dropped all pretense of care for him and had his men chain him in the superlab, coercing him to cook meth.
* He suffocates Arturo to death with a plastic bag in order to enforce Nacho's subordination.
* He takes his frustrations on Lyle, the assistant manager of Los Pollos Hermanos by forcing him to clean the fryer repeatedly and when he lets him go home, he says it in a passive-aggressive way.
* He tries to kill Hank after firing Walt, threatening to kill the latter's wife and two children should he intervene.
* He ordered two hitmen to kill Walt and his family, which was only prevented because Walt warned Hank earlier.
* He was willing to put Hank in a very dangerous situation for the slightest chance of him killing even one of the Cousins.

## External Links

* Gus Fring at the Villains wiki
* Gustavo Fring at the *Breaking Bad* wiki
* Gus Fring at the Inconsistently Heinous wiki

## Navigation

*Heisenberg's Empire*
Patrick Kuby | Mike Ehrmantraut

*Los Pollos Hermanos*
Nacho Varga

*Others*
Old Joe