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Narrator: In this episode
of "American Greed,"

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James Morgan McGill
has a secret weapon...

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his mouth.

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What do the Irish call it?
Blarney?

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

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

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McGill: Oh, to be 19 again.

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Do you remember 19?

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Yeah, you do.

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Narrator: Armed with just a

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correspondence-school
law degree,

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

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As a public defender,
he fights for the little guy

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and wins.

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But helping people
soon loses its cachet.

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Jimmy McGill sees new
opportunities for making money.

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And with that comes
a bigger office

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and a whole new identity...

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Hi. I'm Saul Goodman.

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Did you know
that you have rights?

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The Constitution says you do.

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And so do I.

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Narrator:
Commercials, billboards,

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and bus benches
across New Mexico

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exclaim his trademarked catchphrase...

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Better call Saul!

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Better call Saul!

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Announcer: Better call Saul.

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Narrator: Clients beat a path
to his door.

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

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changes Goodman's life forever.

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The teacher has
a peculiar nickname...

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"Heisenberg."

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For him, Saul Goodman
launders untold millions

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and covers up
the most heinous of crimes.

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Walter White was
the most notorious meth

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kingpin this country
has ever seen.

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He destroyed lives
and terrorized the Southwest.

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

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

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police and DEA agents
descend upon a quiet strip mall

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in the northeast corner
of the city.

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Looming above them,
30 feet tall,

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stands an inflatable
Statue of Liberty.

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Beneath its watchful eye,

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they enter the office
of Saul Goodman and associates.

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Inside, they discover
Styrofoam columns

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and an oversized image
of the Constitution

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plastered on the wall --

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signature backdrops
for Goodman's commercials.

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I fight for you,
Albuquerque!

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Narrator:
But the columns are toppled,

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and a mysterious hole
has been dug into the Sheetrock.

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What was stashed in this
secret hiding place?

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Francesca Liddy,
Saul Goodman's secretary,

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is detained for questioning.

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According to District Attorney
Suzanne Ericsen,

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Goodman himself has vanished
without a trace.

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

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Hank Schrader
and Steve Gomez, go missing.

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

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We had to presume them deceased,

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which sadly turned out
to be the case.

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That's when the whole
house of cards

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began to crumble for White.

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He and his partner,
Jesse Pinkman, disappeared,

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and Goodman followed suit.

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Narrator:
Despite his verbal superpowers,

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Saul Goodman has finally found
a situation

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he can't talk his way out of.

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But where is he now?

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Rumors abound.

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Did he flee the country?

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Is he dead, murdered
by his former associates?

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Well, first off,
he's alive.

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I will go on record --
completely alive.

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Fingers crossed.

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Mm.
Definitely not dead.

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The world is not
that lucky.

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

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

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Unfortunately,
that's what we are.

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- We're victims.
- Yeah.

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

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- Mm-hmm.
- Yeah.

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Narrator: Craig Kettleman is

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the former treasurer
of Bernalillo County.

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He and his wife, Betsy,
find themselves

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exploited by Saul Goodman.

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Betsy: He courted us as clients.

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And, oh, where to begin?

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I mean, he lied to us. Yeah.

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And gave us terrible
legal advice.

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Absolute malpractice, really.

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I mean, he actively
tried to ruin us.

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He broke into our house
and stole our --

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Really, it's too many
things to list.

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Yeah.
Yeah.

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And right from the start,

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he was the kind of
lawyer guilty people hire.

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- Which was not us.
- Yeah.

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And when we first met
this person,

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he was still going by
his given name.

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You know, this Saul Goodman
business came later.

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

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Narrator: In 1992,
Jimmy McGill works in

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the mail room at
Hamlin, Hamlin, McGill,

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where his brother, Charles,
is a named partner.

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Charles Lindbergh McGill
is known far and wide

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as a brilliant attorney.

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Highly esteemed,
his reputation for honesty

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and legal acumen
is second to none.

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Jimmy idolizes
his older sibling.

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But according to Deputy
District Attorney Bill Oakley,

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that respect
never flows both ways.

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Oakley: Chuck McGill was
a God around these parts.

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He was like the second
coming of Clarence Darrow.

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And then his brother
becomes a lawyer?

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"Slippin' Jimmy"
with a mail-order diploma

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from the University of
Wherever-it-is?

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I mean, wow.

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The guy had street smarts,
but come on.

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

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

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at a big Santa Fe law firm.

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Nice office with a window.

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Of course, he blew that one
tout de suite.

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Craig: Sometimes, I kinda think
maybe his older brother

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was everything Jimmy
wanted to be but wasn't.

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

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maybe we're talking
about a person

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who lived his life
in someone's shadow.

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

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We don't feel sorry
for him.

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No.
No.

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

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And now he has to
sleep in it.

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Yep.

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Narrator: Forging his own path,

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Jimmy leaves
Hamlin, Hamlin, McGill

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and goes into private practice.

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Dabbling in the field
of elder law,

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he institutes a large
class-action lawsuit

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against a chain
of retirement homes.

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Schweikart: Sandpiper Crossing.

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That was quite a case.

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He was...colorful.

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

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But he could be
a formidable adversary.

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

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Had he kept that under control,

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who knows how far
he could've gone.

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Hmm. He and Kim --

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those were two smart cookies.

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Narrator: Kimberly Wexler is

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a bright
and ambitious young woman

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Jimmy meets
in the HHM mail room.

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She becomes a fellow attorney,
a business partner,

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and, eventually, Jimmy's wife.

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

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Never understood it.

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Narrator: For a time,
life is good.

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Jimmy finds his practice flourishing.

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He builds a reputation
for providing advocacy

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that's vigorous,
if unconventional.

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McGill: Do you feel confident

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that you can identify
this person?

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That's what you're saying?

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

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

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that the person
you just pointed to

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is not the defendant?

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My client is in the back
of the courtroom.

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Mr. Sticky,
would you please stand up?

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

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Narrator: But the lure of
easy money is seductive.

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Along with his name change,

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Saul Goodman pivots
to a new breed of client.

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Ericsen:
I don't know when it happened.

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I don't know the exact date.

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But at some point,
he started to work

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with the drug cartels.

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And that was
the beginning of the end,

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because from there,
if you survive,

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it is a short hop to becoming

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the consigliere
to Heisenberg himself.

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Narrator:
Among the Mexican cartels,

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one family is feared
above all others.

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Ruthless and cruel,

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they rule their territory
with an iron fist.

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

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

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