Walter White

A New Saga

Rise of the Great Heisenberg

Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher and family man, learns he has inoperable lung cancer. To secure his family's financial future, he begins making meth with Jesse Pinkman, a former student. The two become known for their top-quality blue meth, but success has its complications: Walt finds himself in over his head in the drug underworld. Meanwhile, a DEA team led by Walt's brother-in-law, Hank Schrader, begins investigating "Heisenberg," Walt's alter ego.

I am in the Empire Business

• Walt's fortune is built on the premise that he's selling his meth at the modest price of about $60 a gram. "The price of meth varies wildly from one part of the country to another, and from one time a year to another, depending on supplies," he added. "It can go from $50 a gram to $150 a gram. It makes oil prices look stable."
• It's a long way from $60 for a gram of meth to the seven, 55-gallon drums of cash Walt has holding $80 million.
• Walt cooks almost 400 gallons of the methylamine before deciding to quit the business. He agrees to pay another drug dealer a 35% cut of his sales in return for handling the distribution.
• That would net Walt between $78 million to $96 million in profit, or enough to fill those seven 55-gallon drums with cash.