Valentin Elizalde

A popular singer, his manager and his driver were gunned down Saturday in an ambush after a concert in the border city of Reynosa in an apparent gangland hit, as unabated drug-related violence continued across Mexico. The singer, 27-year-old Valentin Elizalde, was killed about 20 minutes after he performed at a fair. Elizalde was a mainstay of the accordion-based norteno music variously known as banda or grupero, and was also known as "the Golden Rooster."

This country's rumor mill has been working overtime since Valentin Elizalde, a 27-year-old banda singer-songwriter, was gunned down near the border a week ago. Elizalde, known as "the Golden Rooster," died with his manager and driver in a shower of automatic weapon fire shortly after he finished performing at a small fair in Reynosa, across the Rio Grande from McAllen, Texas. His body wasn't even in the ground before the innuendo started flying across newspapers, televisions and websites.

This country's rumor mill has been working overtime since Valentin Elizalde, a 27-year-old banda singer-songwriter, was gunned down near the border a week ago. Elizalde, known as "the Golden Rooster," died with his manager and driver in a shower of automatic weapon fire shortly after he finished performing at a small fair in Reynosa, across the Rio Grande from McAllen, Texas. His body wasn't even in the ground before the innuendo started flying across newspapers, televisions and websites.

A popular singer, his manager and his driver were gunned down Saturday in an ambush after a concert in the border city of Reynosa in an apparent gangland hit, as unabated drug-related violence continued across Mexico. The singer, 27-year-old Valentin Elizalde, was killed about 20 minutes after he performed at a fair. Elizalde was a mainstay of the accordion-based norteno music variously known as banda or grupero, and was also known as "the Golden Rooster."

Authorities recovered the strangled body of a popular grupera singer Monday, just two days after the slaying of another grupera singer in her hospital bed, officials said. Sergio Gomez, lead singer for the group K-Paz de la Sierra, had been kidnapped in the southern state of Michoacan late Saturday and had been missing for two days before officials found his body. Zayda Pena was killed in her hospital bed in the border city of Matamoros on Saturday, hours after surviving an assault.

Headless bodies are being dumped in the streets of Michoacan. Bodiless heads are washing up on Acapulco's rancid beaches. Hit men brazenly snuff out police chiefs in broad daylight. Journalists are being murdered and "disappeared" along a bloody trail stretching from Veracruz to Tijuana. In short, the timing couldn't be more apropos for Alejandro Roman's new play, "Mastercard," a lyrically written psychological portrait of four hard-boiled bit players in Mexico's brutal and escalating drug wars.