Original subtitles

Narrator: In this episode of "American Greed,"

James Morgan McGill has a secret weapon...

his mouth.

What do the Irish call it? Blarney?

That man could spin a tale with the best of them.

He could even hold a jury in the palm of his hand.

McGill: Oh, to be 19 again.

Do you remember 19?

Yeah, you do.

Narrator: Armed with just a

correspondence-school law degree,

he sets up shop in the back of a nail salon.

As a public defender, he fights for the little guy

and wins.

But helping people soon loses its cachet.

Jimmy McGill sees new opportunities for making money.

And with that comes a bigger office

and a whole new identity...

Hi. I'm Saul Goodman.

Did you know that you have rights?

The Constitution says you do.

And so do I.

Narrator: Commercials, billboards,

and bus benches across New Mexico

exclaim his trademarked catchphrase...

Better call Saul!

Better call Saul!

Announcer: Better call Saul.

Narrator: Clients beat a path to his door.

One of them, an unassuming high-school chemistry teacher,

changes Goodman's life forever.

The teacher has a peculiar nickname...

"Heisenberg."

For him, Saul Goodman launders untold millions

and covers up the most heinous of crimes.

Walter White was the most notorious meth

kingpin this country has ever seen.

He destroyed lives and terrorized the Southwest.

But he couldn't have done it without Saul Goodman.

Narrator: In the early hours of March 20, 2010,

police and DEA agents descend upon a quiet strip mall

in the northeast corner of the city.

Looming above them, 30 feet tall,

stands an inflatable Statue of Liberty.

Beneath its watchful eye,

they enter the office of Saul Goodman and associates.

Inside, they discover Styrofoam columns

and an oversized image of the Constitution

plastered on the wall --

signature backdrops for Goodman's commercials.

I fight for you, Albuquerque!

Narrator: But the columns are toppled,

and a mysterious hole has been dug into the Sheetrock.

What was stashed in this secret hiding place?

Francesca Liddy, Saul Goodman's secretary,

is detained for questioning.

According to District Attorney Suzanne Ericsen,

Goodman himself has vanished without a trace.

The beginning of the end was when we had two federal agents,

Hank Schrader and Steve Gomez, go missing.

Schrader was Walter White's brother-in-law.

We had to presume them deceased,

which sadly turned out to be the case.

That's when the whole house of cards

began to crumble for White.

He and his partner, Jesse Pinkman, disappeared,

and Goodman followed suit.

Narrator: Despite his verbal superpowers,

Saul Goodman has finally found a situation

he can't talk his way out of.

But where is he now?

Rumors abound.

Did he flee the country?

Is he dead, murdered by his former associates?

Well, first off, he's alive.

I will go on record -- completely alive.

Fingers crossed.

Mm. Definitely not dead.

The world is not that lucky.

And while there's still good, honest people in the world,

he will have a steady supply of victims, like us.

Unfortunately, that's what we are.

- We're victims. - Yeah.

- We're survivors. - We're survivors.

- Mm-hmm. - Yeah.

Narrator: Craig Kettleman is

the former treasurer of Bernalillo County.

He and his wife, Betsy, find themselves

exploited by Saul Goodman.

Betsy: He courted us as clients.

And, oh, where to begin?

I mean, he lied to us. Yeah.

And gave us terrible legal advice.

Absolute malpractice, really.

I mean, he actively tried to ruin us.

He broke into our house and stole our --

Really, it's too many things to list.

Yeah. Yeah.

And right from the start,

he was the kind of lawyer guilty people hire.

- Which was not us. - Yeah.

And when we first met this person,

he was still going by his given name.

You know, this Saul Goodman business came later.

Back then, he was just trading on the family reputation.

Narrator: In 1992, Jimmy McGill works in

the mail room at Hamlin, Hamlin, McGill,

where his brother, Charles, is a named partner.

Charles Lindbergh McGill is known far and wide

as a brilliant attorney.

Highly esteemed, his reputation for honesty

and legal acumen is second to none.

Jimmy idolizes his older sibling.

But according to Deputy District Attorney Bill Oakley,

that respect never flows both ways.

Oakley: Chuck McGill was a God around these parts.

He was like the second coming of Clarence Darrow.

And then his brother becomes a lawyer?

"Slippin' Jimmy" with a mail-order diploma

from the University of Wherever-it-is?

I mean, wow.

The guy had street smarts, but come on.

I can't imagine how humiliating that must have been for Chuck.

Still, trading on Chuck's name got Jimmy a job

at a big Santa Fe law firm.

Nice office with a window.

Of course, he blew that one tout de suite.

Craig: Sometimes, I kinda think maybe his older brother

was everything Jimmy wanted to be but wasn't.

- Yeah. - You know, maybe Jimmy -- Saul --

maybe we're talking about a person

who lived his life in someone's shadow.

You know, when I think about it like that, I kind of feel --

We don't feel sorry for him.

No. No.

- He made his bed. - He made -- Yeah.

And now he has to sleep in it.

Yep.

Narrator: Forging his own path,

Jimmy leaves Hamlin, Hamlin, McGill

and goes into private practice.

Dabbling in the field of elder law,

he institutes a large class-action lawsuit

against a chain of retirement homes.

Schweikart: Sandpiper Crossing.

That was quite a case.

He was...colorful.

And this was even before the crazy suits and the new name.

But he could be a formidable adversary.

If he didn't feel this constant need to cut corners.

Had he kept that under control,

who knows how far he could've gone.

Hmm. He and Kim --

those were two smart cookies.

Narrator: Kimberly Wexler is

a bright and ambitious young woman

Jimmy meets in the HHM mail room.

She becomes a fellow attorney, a business partner,

and, eventually, Jimmy's wife.

For the life of me, I don't know what she saw in him.

Never understood it.

Narrator: For a time, life is good.

Jimmy finds his practice flourishing.

He builds a reputation for providing advocacy

that's vigorous, if unconventional.

McGill: Do you feel confident

that you can identify this person?

That's what you're saying?

Harkness: I can. It's him, your client.

McGill: Would you be surprised to learn, Mr. Harkness,

that the person you just pointed to

is not the defendant?

My client is in the back of the courtroom.

Mr. Sticky, would you please stand up?

- Attorney: Objection! - Judge: Oh, Mr. Goodman!

Narrator: But the lure of easy money is seductive.

Along with his name change,

Saul Goodman pivots to a new breed of client.

Ericsen: I don't know when it happened.

I don't know the exact date.

But at some point, he started to work

with the drug cartels.

And that was the beginning of the end,

because from there, if you survive,

it is a short hop to becoming

the consigliere to Heisenberg himself.

Narrator: Among the Mexican cartels,

one family is feared above all others.

Ruthless and cruel,

they rule their territory with an iron fist.

When Saul Goodman's greed puts him on a collision course

with the Salamancas, there's bound to be trouble.

One day, it arrives -- in a smiling, handsome package.