But there was one thing he had in his favor: He could divert the heat and suspicion away from the Chicken Man. And he used that leverage to guarantee the safety of his father, Manuel (Juan Carlos Cantu), who had long urged his son to turn himself into the police. And to whom Nacho would make a final emotional call.
Nacho represented the only concrete link between Gus and the attempted assassination of Lalo Salamanca, and that's a loose end Fring wanted to be tied. One of Gus' men could kill Nacho, but that'd scream guilt almost as loudly as a confession. Instead, Gus orchestrated a scenario whereby the Salamancas kill Nacho.
In that moment, Nacho can run. He's free to go. But he's staring the sunset in the eyes, and he's looking back at his father and saying “Come with me.” And his father says no. It's in that moment that Nacho knows that he's going to walk back into hell and sacrifice himself for the love of his father.
Rather than pretend to flee as planned so that Victor can kill him quickly, Nacho uses a piece of broken glass to free himself from his zip tie, seize Juan's gun, and kill himself. The Cousins then assist Hector to fire bullets into Nacho's lifeless body.
If Nacho Didn't Kill Himself in Better Call Saul There Won't Be Breaking Bad Here's Why
Why did they kill Nacho so early?
While Nacho's motivations are clear, the reason Better Call Saul creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould opted to kill him off so early likely boils down to throwing just about every popular theory as to how Better Call Saul would end out the window.
It's fair to say that Nacho had no other choice but to kill Hector. Hector was now aware of Nacho's father and what role his business could play in expanding the Salamanca operation. He was also aware that Nacho's father had no intention of doing so willingly.
Leonel and Marco Salamanca, Hector, and Bolsa are at the meeting point as they arrive. Nacho dies after shooting himself in the head ("Rock and Hard Place").
Of course, there's a reason Nacho didn't tell Hector the whole story. He had just struck a deal with Mike (Jonathan Banks) to protect his father after his death. Mike is, after all, Gus's man, and if Nacho would have revealed his double-agent status and turned Hector against Gus, Manuel would have been in grave danger.
Gus wanted the Cartel / Salamancas to kill Nacho, so that Gus wouldn't be the prime suspect of orchestrating Lalo's assassination. Gus planned to frame Nacho as the rat who betrayed Lalo to a rival Peruvian cartel, called “Los Odios”.
In the run up to his death, Nacho has a few final torments to endure. These include hiding in an oil tanker, under a puddle of oil, and getting beaten up by Mike so he looks appropriately bruised when it's show time.
The cartel wanted him, the Salamancas, too, and Nacho was forced to hide in a puddle of oil to escape them. But after contacting Gus and extracting a guarantee of safety for his father from Mike Ehrmantraut, Nacho was smuggled north of the border in the bottom of a truck and briefed on how to make his final confession.
Question: How did Gus know Nacho poisoned Hector? He didn't. However, he noticed several things that piqued his curiosity and he had Nacho followed. Unfortunately for Nacho, he foolishly disposed of Hector Salamanca's “medicine” in the open and he was seen doing it by Fring's men.
Said envy was extent to Gus due to the latter's status as a South American and quickly winning over Eladio. It was because of this that Hector developed a deep hatred for, a mutual feeling given that he shot Gus' friend - maybe even lover - in front of his very eyes.
He then calls Jonathan Banks' Mike Ehrmantraut, the closest person he has to a friend in this harsh world. Nacho agrees to sacrifice himself and take all the blame for the attempt on Lalo's life. He does this to ensure said father will be protected, something Mike swears to do personally.
Why did they have to replace the safe with the same model? Gus wanted his plan to be foolproof, and replacing the safe with the exact same model will lessen suspicion that the safe had been tampered with. It is possible that one of Bolsa's or the Salamancas' men has knowledge of what safe Nacho keeps in his home.
Nacho Varga and Mike monitor a restaurant and Nacho says he fears retaliation from Tuco Salamanca if Tuco discovers his secret drug dealing. Nacho tells Mike he and Tuco meet there to settle accounts with their street dealers, so Nacho thinks it is an ideal place to kill Tuco.
He's a drug-dealing thug who plotted to kidnap a family with two small children to rob them. It's only in the moral universe of this show that you could even ask if he's a good guy. What we can say about him is that he's smart, pragmatic and stable, and seems to take no pleasure in violence.
After Bolsa and Gus visit Hector and promise him vengeance for Lalo's supposed death, Gus realizes from Hector's demeanor that Lalo is still alive. Now anticipating a revenge attack by Lalo, Gus has Mike arrange for around-the-clock guards for his home and businesses.
Gus was determined to be the one and only person to punish Hector Salamanca, and when Nacho decided to take things into his own hands and make an attempt on Hector's life, Gus was furious. He was used to people (Mike, for instance) stepping out of the way when it came to revenge on Hector.
A defeat at the hands of Jimmy might not have made Chuck's death in Better Call Saul inevitable, but added to his emotional turmoil was his chronic electromagnetic hypersensitivity, which had almost entirely confined him to his home for long periods and remains the answer to "why did Chuck kill himself?".
Nacho was highly intelligent, aloof, somewhat cold, quiet and very perceptive. Although loyal to the Salamancas and the Cartel, Nacho shows qualities of a good leader as well. He was able to conduct business with the Cartel and perform his own side jobs without the Cartel ever knowing.
