User:WaryLouka/Walter White

Walter Hartwell White Sr. (7 September 1958 – 7 September 2010), also known by his criminal alias Heisenberg, was an American drug lord, chemist, and school teacher who was the co-founder of the Heisenberg drug empire, a massive methamphetamine manufacturing and distribution operation headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was one of the wealthiest criminals in history, personally accumulating close to $80 million by the time of his death—equivalent to $114 million as of 2024—while his drug operation monopolized the distribution of methamphetamine throughout the American southwest from 2008 to 2010.

At his peak, Walter White operated the largest methamphetamine drug operation in the world, generating more than $30 billion in less than its five years of existence. Through a highly complex international supply chain covertly operated by a subsidiary of Madrigal Elektromotoren GmbH, Walter White's influence reached as far as South America and western Europe, most notably in Czechia.

Early life
Walter White was born in Los Angeles, California to Harold White, his father, and Karen White, his mother. When Walter White was six years old, his father died of Huntington's disease, which has impacted his emotional development heavily. He studied chemistry at the California Institute of Technology and, after graduate school, worked as a researcher at Sandia National Laboratory. There he conducted research on proton radiography that helped a team win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1985. Using some of the prize money, Walter founded the firm Gray Matter Technologies with Elliott Schwartz, his former classmate and close friend. Around this time, Walter was in a relationship with his laboratory assistant, Gretchen Schwartz. He left both Gretchen and Gray Matter Technologies in 1989, selling his financial interest in the company for $5,000. Gretchen and Elliott later married and made a fortune, much of it from Walter's research according to the conclusions of the 2011 Gray Matter Technologies investigation.

At the age of 50, Walter worked as a high school chemistry teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico at J. P. Wynne High School. He also had another job at a local car wash to supplement his income. According to testimony from Walter's associates, Walter White highly resented his position, perceiving it as an "humiliating downgrade" from his previous positions at Sandia National Laboratory and Gray Matter Technologies. Living a simple life since, he and his wife had Walter White Jr on July 8, 1993.

Cancer diagnosis
On September 7, 1958, Walter White fell unconscious while working his part-time job at the car wash and was taken to a hospital. He was subsequently diagnosed with Stage III small-cell lung carcinoma, with an estimated survival prognosis of around two years. Due to financial restrictions and not desiring to emotionally impact his family, Walter initially decided to conceal his diagnosis from his relatives. In order to to secure his family's financial well-being, Walter White tracked down Jesse Pinkman, a former student at J. P. Wynne High School whom he partnered with to produce and sell methamphetamine. It is currently unknown how Walter White became aware of Jesse's involvement with methamphetamine production and distribution.

Early
Shortly after being invited by his brother-in-law and Drug Enforcement Administration agent, Hank Schrader, to accompany him on a live raid on a methamphetamine lab, Walter launched a methamphetamine operation with his former student, Jesse Pinkman, at the time known to law enforcement by the moniker "Captain Cook". Operating out of a 1986 Fleetwood Bounder, Walter used his chemistry knowledge to produce remarkably pure and potent methamphetamine out in the Albuquerque desert, which they sell locally. The usage of the recreational vehicle, bought with Walter White's savings, allowed the two to effectively hide from the authorities.

Days after the beginnings of Walter White's drug operation, Walter finally revealed he had lung cancer to his relatives at a dinner party, having first told his wife Skyler about his condition sometime before. First rejecting his family's wishes for him to seek chemotherapy under the pretense of avoiding the the indignities of chemotherapy side-effects, Walter eventually agreed to receive treatment, using the initial proceeds of his methamphetamine operation to fund his chemotherapy, while claiming his two ex-colleagues, Elliott Schwartz and Gretchen Schwartz, were paying for his treatment. To help pay for his treatment while still providing a financial future for his family, Walter ordered the expansion of his operation and the distribution of his methamphetamine in wholesale, which Walter and Jesse managed through a deal with Albuquerque-based drug distributor Tuco Salamanca of the Ciudad Juárez cartel.