desperado vs malefactor

desperado and malefactor both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
desperado	Yes	No	No	No
malefactor	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, malefactor is a hypernym of desperado; that is, malefactor is a word with a broader meaning than desperado:

desperado: a bold outlaw (especially on the American frontier)
malefactor: someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime

Other hypernyms of desperado include criminal, crook, felon, outlaw.

desperado (noun)	malefactor (noun)
a bold outlaw (especially on the American frontier)	someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime