You need to read the "If I were Evil Overlord" list.
#7. When I've captured my adversary and he says, "Look, before you kill me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?" I'll say, "No." and shoot him. No, on second thought I'll shoot him then say "No."
FROM THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTcBgs2huRo
QUOTE;
“When you have to shoot...Shoot! Don’t talk”
James Bond vilians can learn from Tuco (Eli Wallach). Instead of explaining how to they are going to take over the world to 007, just shoot his ass and be done with it! lol.
The evil overlord list does need a lot of updating, both to keep up with current evil overlord management trends and to eliminate the embarrassingly anachronistic advice.
For instance, just because an evil overlord is autocratic does not mean his chain of command should be disorderly or have overlapping authority, nor does it mean that he should not delegate autocratic authority to subordinates.
Military staff organization has several thousand years of testing behind it, and military planning was mostly figured out as far back as Sun Tzu.
The evil overlord needs to regularly give and receive written evaluations and efficiency reports, as well as closely track the finances, psychological and physical health of his subordinates. Likewise, subordinates should have very comfortable retirement schemes in the realm’s military industrial infrastructure, as business procurement consultants to the overlord.
By all appearances, his chief lieutenant should be the one that all other subordinates fear and who handles day to day administration. However, he must be excluded from any chance of succession, and if the evil overlord dies, he dies.
Mercantilism is underrated. Specie is far preferable to fiat currencies, and government graft and corruption should have very explicit rules known to the public. In hard times, bread and circuses give an evil overlord the popularity he needs to stay in power, and are pretty cost effective, all things considered.
A great secret of evil overlords is public education. When children are out from underfoot, parents are far less likely to be stressed and foment revolution.
If you want to exterminate some minority, the best way to do so is to give them the tools to exterminate themselves, while having fun doing it.