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We've waited long enough. We won't wait any longer.
~ Marco to Gustavo Fring after being denied the assassination of Walter White.
Terminalo. (Finish him).
~ Leonel's last words, telling Marco to kill Hank Schrader.

Marco and Leonel Salamanca, commonly known as the Cousins, are major antagonists in the TV series Breaking Bad and supporting antagonists in its prequel series Better Call Saul. The duo were twin brothers and viscous button men for the Cartel. Despite an austere, mechanical physicality and virtually non-verbal interaction, they were a fearsome presence who killed without hesitation or emotion.

They were portrayed by Luis Moncada and Daniel Moncada respectively, who are brothers (though not twins) in real life as well. Luis has also portrayed Julio Benes in Dexter.

Biography[]

Better Call Saul[]

The Cousins first emerge when their uncle, Hector Salamanca, summons them to deal with hitman Mike Ehrmantraut after the latter got Hector's other nephew Tuco Salamanca arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm. After Hector failed to get Mike to decrease Tuco's jail sentence, he sent the Cousins to threaten Mike in order to get him to change his mind.

As Mike is watching his granddaughter Kaylee at the motel pool, the two brothers appear on a rooftop adjacent to it, and one of them makes a gun signal at Kaylee, threatening to kill her if Mike doesn't comply. Mike agrees to get Tuco's jail time reduced, but nevertheless plans retribution on Hector for threatening to kill his family. After Mike sabotages one of their truck drivers' trips to the US to get the drugs transported, Hector has them kill the driver in the dessert.

Unbeknownst to the Cousins, Hector's enforcer Nacho Varga plans to get his boss to have a heart attack for his attempt to buy his father's store. This works successfully, but ends up triggering the attention of drug kingpin Gus Fring as a result; Gus, who is Hector's archenemy due to the latter having killed Gus' romantic business partner Max Arciniega, has indulged himself to getting revenge against Hector and his family along with the Cartel for their role in Max's death. When Gus finds out what Nacho had done, he has him captured and kills his colleague Arturo Colon before threatening to expose his actions to the Salamancas unless he pledges himself to Gus. Because of this, Nacho is forced to agree.

Soon after Gus has Nacho taken to a desert and shot in the shoulder to make it look like Arturo was shot to death by an unknown assailant, the cousins pick Nacho up and take him to Dr. Caldera. Nacho lies and tells them it was the Espinosa Gang-later taking them to the gang's headquarters to identify the "shooters", which results in the Cousins killing the whole gang itself. The brothers travel back to Mexico afterwards.

Later on, Marco and Leonel are sent by their other cousin Lalo Salamanca them to collect seven million dollars and then deliver the money to criminal attorney Jimmy McGill. Once the two meet with Jimmy, they give him the money before driving off. It was then, a weeks or months later, that the Cartel are informed that Lalo is dead; the Cousins thereupon visit Lalo's house and see their cousin's burned corpse. Shocked by the loss of their family member, the Cousins leave the scene to find the one responsible.

In reality, however, Lalo is alive and his "corpse" is a body double who he killed. A few days later, The Cousins and some of the Cartel gunmen raid a place in an attempt to avenge Lalo's "death" on the orders of Hector's boss Don Eladio. They kill a man who almost killed Nacho so they can do it themselves, and try to shoot him to death while he is in a car. However, Nacho manages to escape and almost runs over the Cousins in the process. Following this, they chase Nacho to a dirt road and end up finding his car parked on the side. The brothers try to find him, but they fail as Nacho was hiding inside a semi-tank and submerged himself in oil; Nacho escapes the following morning after The Cousins drive away from the scene.

A few days later, the Cousins join Hector and their associate Juan Bolsa for a meeting in the desert with Gus. The latter, along with his henchmen Victor and Tyrus Kitt, begin the meeting up presenting an injured Nacho to the Cartel. Bolsa begins interrogating Nacho, stating that he'll have a "good death" if Nacho reveals who he was working for. Nacho falsely claims that he was working for a Peruvian cartel, which was Gus has told him to say earlier on in order to cover up his involvement behind Lalo's attempted murder.

When Hector declares Nacho to be lying and accuses Gus of being responsible, Nacho turns his attention to Hector - mocking him before proclaiming his hatred for the entire Salamanca family and then confessing that he was the reason why Hector has been disabled. As Hector reacts angrily to this revelation, Nacho breaks free of his zip ties with a piece of glass before stabbing Bolsa in the leg and putting a gun to his head. As both Gus and the Cartel's men point their guns at Nacho, including the Cousins, he shoots himself in the head. As Gus and his men leave, the Cousins bring Hector next to Nacho's corpse so he could shoot it multiple times in a fit of rage.

Breaking Bad[]

In their first appearance, the Cousins plan on assassinating renowned meth cook Walter White - also known as Heisenberg - as retribution for betraying Tuco and causing his death. Throughout the next few episodes, they are shown preparing to take down Walter by attempting to discover his location, so that they can carry out their revenge.

After the Cartel is double crossed by gang member Tortuga when the latter becomes an DEA informant, Bolsa orders the Cousins to kill him. They do so by decapitating Tortuga and putting his head on a tortoise. The brothers then implanted a bomb inside which would eventually explode in front of the DEA in the dessert, killing one and injuring three others.

At one point, they finally discover where Walter lives and prepare to kill him before being asked to stop on their boss's orders. Thereafter the two arrange a meeting with Walter's boss, Gus, in order to receive his permission to kill his cook. Unfortunately for them, Walter is too valuable to Gus as he instead delays the Cousins by professing that he needs to complete his "business arrangements" with Walter first. However, the Cousins soon become impatient and Gus takes notice of this when they confront him at his restaurant. They later have another meeting in the desert where Gus reveals to the Cousins that while Walter had indeed betrayed Tuco, he was never directly his killer; Gus then reveals that Walter's brother-in-law from the DEA, Hank Schrader, was the one who killed Tuco and gives them permission to kill him despite their profession that "DEA is off limits".

The next day, the Cousins track down Hank to a parking lot and attempt to kill him. However, due to Gus forewarning Hank in a phone call moments ago, the DEA agent is able to get the upper hand and manages to injure Leonel before getting injured by Marco. When the brothers regroup as Marco sees his twin injured, Leonel urges him to finish off Hank. This prompts Marco to prepare on executing Hank, but at a last minute decides not to shoot him and opts to chop him to death with an axe. As Marco retrieves his axe and makes his way to Hank, however, the DEA agent is able to reload his handgun; Hank reacts first and shoots Marco in the head, killing him in the end.

Following the shootout and Marco's death, both Hank and Leonel are rushed to hospital; Walter later finds out about this from his meth cook protege, Jesse Pinkman, and meets up with his wife Skyler along with the rest of their family. As the family awaits at Hank's bedside to find out about his condition, Walter joins his partner Steven Gomez in visiting Leonel's bedside where the latter and his fellow DEA colleagues curse him for putting Hank in hospital. It is then Leonel awakens and sees Walter, causing him to realize that the Cousins had broke into his house and tried to kill him earlier on. Upon seeing Walter in person, Leonel forces himself out of his bedside and attempts to make his way to Walter; this of course fails as Gomez and his colleagues force Leonel back on his bedside.

Later on, after Gus arrives at the hospital to support the DEA over what has happened, Leonel is finished off when Mike sneaks into his room and kills him with a lethal injection. The DEA find out about this just as Gus departs from the hospital. They watch as the medics are unable to revive him; once Leonel's death is offically confirmed, Gomez quotes "Burn in hell you piece of shit". As this happens, Mike is seen leaving the hospital.

Not long afterwards, Bolsa is informed of the Cousins' deaths and calls Gus to demand an explanation; this is interrupted when Bolsa is confronted and killed by armed gunmen as orchestrated by Gus himself. Gus later visits Hector to inform them of this deaths, tormenting him about it as part of his campaign to get revenge on Hector for Max's death years ago. This continues when Gus proceeds to wipe out the Cartel by killing Don Eladio at his mansion, whereupon Hector's grandson Joaquin is killed by Jesse in a shootout.

Personality[]

Leonel and Marco Salamanca were raised on the importance of the family being all by their uncle Hector and anyone who crossed them deserved to die. This life lesson which was taught to them as children acted as fuel for their revenge against Walter White, then later Hank Schrader, who killed their cousin Tuco. As hitmen for the cartel, the Cousins are hardly fazed by any of the atrocious acts they are ordered to do; they remain calm, stoic, emotionless, apathetic and ruthless even in dangerous situations. They have a mechanical, almost synchronized connection and rarely speak, only when it is needed.

Unlike Tuco, who took care of his grandmother and uncle, and Hector, who was saddened after hearing his family was wiped out, the Cousins showed genuine care towards themselves and themselves only, with their hunt to avenge Tuco never being painted in a sympathetic or genuine light, as well as never taking care of Hector. Instead, it's painted as a fanatical, cult-like devotion, with their hunt for Walter, later Hank, being meant to preserve honor. However, as mentioned beforehand, they did genuinely care about each other, with Leonel saving Marco from being drowned when they were children, and Marco returning the favor years later, checking up on Leonel after his legs have been crushed by Hank's car, giving up his hunt for him for a few seconds.

Victims[]

Better Call Saul[]

  • Ximenez Lecerda - Shot by Marco on Hector's orders.
  • 25 Espinosa Gang Members - Shot for seemingly attacking Nacho Varga.
  • Unnamed Salamanca Henchman - Shot in the back by Marco for almost killing Nacho Varga.
    • Total - 27

Breaking Bad[]

  • Tortuga - Decapitated by Marco with a machete, on Juan Bolsa's orders.
  • Unnamed Federal Agent - Blown up with a bomb set up by Marco and Leonel.
  • "Olive Oil" - Shot by Marco and Leonel.
  • Nine Other Passengers - Shot by Marco and Leonel.
  • Coyote Driver - Shot in the back, then shot in the head by Leonel.
  • Mrs. Peyketewa - Body found after being killed by Marco and Leonel.
  • Deputy Bobby Kee - Struck in the back by Marco with an axe.
  • Unnamed Man - Shot in the chest by Marco.
    • Total - 16

Overall[]

  • Total - 43

Gallery[]

Promotional Material[]

Gifs[]

Trivia[]

  • Both Marco and Leonel are shown to be followers of Santa Muerte, the personification of Death in Mexican folklore. This is first shown when they visit a small town and crawl on the dirt road to a chapel made for Santa Muerte to show humility to her. The Cousins themselves could also be personifications of Death within the show since nearly everything they do somehow involves death.
    • As hitmen, The Cousins are hired to murder people frequently within the show. They also never leave any surviving witnesses to any of their assassinations.
    • Both of them wear shoes that have skulls decorating them.
    • The Cousins occasionally make death threats to people that have either disrespected their family or the Salamanca mafia, such as Mike or Walter.
    • Marco and Leonel make deals in weapons, money, and drugs, which are the top leading causes of death within the drug empire.
    • The very last thing both cousins do is attempt to murder Hank to avenge Tuco.
  • According to a promotional mugshot, Marco stands at 6ft and 8 inches tall while Leonel stands at 6ft and 7 inches tall.
  • In the scene where they blow up the truck that takes them over the border, the film crew used practical effects to blow up a real truck. Due to this, only one take was possible. They used a camera trick to make the truck seem closer to the brothers to ensure safety.
  • The Cousins' counterparts in Metástasis, the Colombian remake of Breaking Bad, are Oscar and Luis Salamanca.

External Links[]

Navigation[]

            BreakingBadLogo / Better Call Saul logo Villains

Heisenberg's Empire
Walter White | Jesse Pinkman | Skyler White | Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman | Mike Ehrmantraut | Todd Alquist | Lydia Rodarte-Quayle | Badger | Skinny Pete | Combo | Huell Babineaux | Patrick Kuby | Declan | Vamonos Pest

The Cartel
Dons/Leadership
Don Eladio | Hector Salamanca | Juan Bolsa | Lalo Salamanca
Salamanca Family
Hector Salamanca | Tuco Salamanca | The Cousins | Lalo Salamanca | Joaquin Salamanca | Gonzo
Others
Nacho Varga | Krazy-8 | Emilio Koyama | No-Doze | Tortuga | Gaff | Arturo Colon | Ximenez Lecerda | Carlos | Blingy | Benicio Fuentes | Miguel | Mouse | Sticky | Arlo | Ron

Los Pollos Hermanos
Leadership
Gus Fring | Mike Ehrmantraut | Peter Schuler | Max Arciniega
Others
Walter White | Jesse Pinkman | Lydia Rodarte-Quayle | Nacho Varga | Victor | Tyrus Kitt | Rival Dealers | Tomás Cantillo | Gale Boetticher | Chris Mara | Duane Chow | Nick | Dennis Markowski | Dan Wachsberger | Ron Forenall | Harris Boivin | Raymond Martinez

Neo-Nazis/Jack Welker's Gang
Jack Welker | Todd Alquist | Kenny | Matt | Frankie | Lester | Neil Kandy | Casey

Jimmy McGill's Contacts
Chuck McGill | Kim Wexler | Francesca Liddy | Saul Goodman Productions | Ed Galbraith | Ira | Betsy and Craig Kettleman | Cal and Lars Lindholm | Marco Pasternak | Jeff | Buddy

Other
Spooge | Spooge's Lady | James Kilkelly/Jimmy In-'N-Out | Old Joe | Gordie | Lawson | Scary Skell | Tucker | Caldera | Hoffman & Fensky | Daniel Wormald | Clarence | Sobchak | The Con Man | Espinosa Gang | Rocco, Zane and Jed | Gangbangers | Mrs. Wexler | Colombian Gang

See Also
Metástasis Villains

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