El Gatillero

In these songs, is a hero: brave, loyal, and muy hombre . He drives a lifted truck, wears exotic boots, and never flinches. But the traditional corrido often ends with a moral lesson—the Gatillero dies in a hail of bullets or dies in prison.

is distinct from a bodyguard or a sicario. While "sicario" is a broad term for a hitman (derived from the Latin word for zealots, sicarii ), El Gatillero refers specifically to the operative who pulls the trigger during active combat or targeted assassination. He is usually young, often between the ages of 15 and 25. He is valued not for his strategic mind, but for his velocity, his aim, and his lack of hesitation. El Gatillero