Goodbye, Godfather

A crowd of about 200 gathers outside the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court to hear the scuttlebutt on Vietnam's spiciest trial in memory. Nam Cam, Vietnam's most powerful and vicious gangster, is in the dock on seven charges, including murder, along with at least 154 co-accused. He will probably face a firing squad. Suddenly, police throw seven women into a jeep and drive them away. "A threat to the peace," one policeman explains. The women's crime: they were trying to sell fans and cold drinks to the spectators.

Saigononly bureaucrats...