I’m trying to remember- what evidence would the government have had, had they brought Walt to trial? His main antagonists, Steve and Hank, were both dead and buried.
Jesse, Jesse’s taped confession, Marie, Walt Jr., Skyler, Badger, Skinny Pete
They could likely get Jesse to turn state’s evidence, as he had no love for Walt by the end. And then there were Skinny Pete and his sidekick. Skyler had that large hunk of cash that Walt sent her, and she might also have traded info for a light sentence. Even Saul would have ratted him to save his own hide.
Marie knew that Hank was going after Walt and why. Then Hank goes missing which would raise an alarm even if Walt had not told Marie that she would never see Hank again. That right there would have brought down a lot more scrutiny than Walt and Co. could bear.
Yeah, Walt implicated himself to Marie, Walt Jr., and Skyler as being at least a witness to Hank and Gomez’s murders (accomplice if New Mexico has a felony murder clause). Not to mention that there’s plenty of accomplices who would probably be willing to talk for immunity. The neo-Nazi inmates who pulled the big prison hit, that sociopath guy who kidnapped Jesse, and especially Lydia, who would sell Walt out for a cup of coffee if she had to. There was already enough evidence for a warrant and a nationwide manhunt. Once he was in custody, they would have started digging more and finding plenty of information to use against him.
If Walt had been apprehended before the end of the finale, then Jesse would be unavailable, since he’d still be a prisoner of the neo-Nazis. Saul was also out of the picture by then, since he got disappeared by the vacuum guy. Skyler would probably be their greatest initial source of info, unless Jesse gave Hank everything he had before he was kidnapped.
When are they building the case? They obviously have to pick him up sometime before he dies since they’re not going to drag a bullet-ridden corpse to the courtroom. And catching him on the way to his big revenge probably isn’t enough, at that point he’s likely to die from cancer before they can actually start the trial so the evidence isn’t really going to matter. If you push the capture time back, you might unhide some evidence and unkill some people that wouldn’t be available by the last episode.
I’m also not so sure Saul can be discounted - after the actual show ending he’s probably not worth a lot of effort to track down, but if the DEA actually captured Walt and wanted to dig into everything, they probably would put quite a bit of effort into finding him. He’s certainly worried about being tracked down by someone in the Cinnabon shots in BCS (he spends hours stuck in a utility room rather than use a fire exit). Also, while Saul himself disappeared, he didn’t disappear all of the people he worked with - his former associates definitely have some information to give up.
Well…I don’t think Lydia is a problem since Walt switched her sugar packet with Ricin
Yes, but I was operating under the assumption that the OP’s scenario was one where Walt gets pinched before the events of the finale. Like say if someone had changed the channel and he had simply chosen to stay at the bar in New Hampshire and wait for the police to arrive.
Gretchen and Elliott Schwartz could implicate him, given his threatening them and forcing a pile of cash (to finance his kids’ future) on them.
What about Huell? Isn’t he still waiting at the safe house? 
Hubby & I watched Breaking Bad when it aired, and now we’re working our way through the DVD set, including deleted scenes, “Inside Breaking Bad” extras, etc. <3 this show!
The Neo-Nazis stole the tape that Hank had made of Jesse’s confession. So if the Neo-Nazis hadn’t been located yet, that evidence would not be available.
The OP should clarify at what point Walt is arrested. Immediately after Hank and Steve’s murder? In the bar in New Hampshire? After killing the Neo-Nazis (presuming he survived)?
If he were apprehended before the finale, then if Lydia were also caught she could lead the police to the Neo-Nazis and to Jesse.
If Walt were apprehended after killing the Neo-Nazis, and Jesse made good his escape (which seems unlikely, since he had no money and no place to go and his only friends were Badger and Skinny Pete), the police might find Jesse’s tape at the Neo-Nazi’s hideout. (Of course they should have destroyed it but they might have kept it just for laughs.)
Didn’t Walt confess over the phone? IIRC, he suspected the cops were listening and he wanted to exonerate Skylar, so he went on this big rant about how “it was all me.”
Yes. In “Ozymandias”, along with exonerating Skyler, Walt told Skyler, Marie and Flynn that they would never see Hank again, on a call that was likely being recorded.
In “Felina”, Walt gave Skyler the lottery ticket with the lat/lon of Hank and Steve’s remains.
The Aryan Brotherhood stole the recorded confession Jesse gave to Hank. If the AB (and Walt’s M60) didn’t destroy it, the cops might have found it when they raided the AB’s compound as “Baby Blue” wrapped up.
How are they going to survive an IRS audit? Walt was paying hundreds of thousands for his treatment, and they shelled out big time for the car wash. How are they explaining where the money came from that has any chance in hell of holding up? Sure, Walt claims it was gambling, but I don’t see it holding up, and then there’s the issue it’s not on his taxes. If he did report it, I can’t see it not triggering an audit and opening all the problem questions anyway.
This was answered in show, Thanks to Saul they found a casino willing to go along with the story since it also gave them a pile of cash to work with in the form of money they “paid” to Walt.
Really? I completely missed that.
I also don’t recall this. Skyler was laundering the money through the car wash. Once the cash flow was too big to launder they rented a storage space and amassed a huge pile of cash there because they couldn’t process it.
Skyler was the one who devised the cover story that their money came from gambling, but AFAIK they never had an actual casino involved.
I didn’t watch the show, but does this help?: NM Stat § 30-2-1 :: Section 30-2-1: Murder. :: 2011 New Mexico Statutes :: US Codes and Statutes :: US Law :: Justia
Might be the Feds and not the staties coming after Walt, in any event.
IIRC, Saul brought this up as a possible way to launder the money (I seem to remember him suggesting that it would be easy to find a casino owner willing to concur that Walt’s purported gambling winnings had come from their casino, since they could declare it as a loss against the casino’s revenue). But acquiring the car wash rendered this plan unnecessary.
Acquiring the car wash may give a method of laundering money after the fact, but it doens’t help explain how the White’s obtained some $250k+ for Walt’s medical treatment, nor the $600k+ to purchase the car wash.