VIET NAM: Voluntary Disinfection

Convinced that Premier Diem, with his accent on austere morality, is going to be in power for a while, Saigon's powerful hoodlum sect, the Binh Xuyen, agreed meekly last week to abandon its golden empire of sin, at least for the time being. "We ourselves propose the suppression of gambling dens," proclaimed the Binh Xuyen's General Le Van Vien to an astonished populace. "If we did run gambling in the past, it was only because we wanted to give the newly born state of Viet Nam an indispensable complement of money in taxes for its budget . . . Now...

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