Listening to Sicarios presents new insights into the lives of paid
assassins of Mexico's drug trafficking syndicates from the perspectives
of the assassins themselves. Based on an extraordinary series of
ethnographic interviews carried out in the wake of the record levels of
narcoviolence experienced in Ciudad Juárez between 2008 and 2012, this
study analyzes the ways in which these young men interpret their actions
across four key thematic axes: border infrastructures, youth and
responsibility, masculinity and sentiment, and ethics: good vs. evil.
It argues that sicarios follow a career path within a criminal corporate
infrastructure that is especially robust in Mexican border cities. It
also explores how sicarios understand youthful innocence in relation to
adult accountability in the realm of violence that is frequently meted
out by young men on other young men. It then analyzes sicarios'
expressions of feelings of power that may boost their sense of virility,
as well as feelings of fear and regret that imply weakness. Finally, it
examines how sicarios defend their personal integrity in the face of a
public discourse that views their acts as savage.