I remember reading about Saddam’s takeover of the Ba’ath party. That story was a wild ride.
TLDR: Saddam calls an emergency party conference and has the former president’s secretary stand up and read a “confession”, claiming to be part of a Syrian-backed plot to overthrow the Iraqi government along with a list of names of his “co-conspirators.”
As the name of each "co-conspirator’ is read, guards come in and take them from the room one at a time. 68 people were removed, charged with treason, and convicted. Saddam has 22 of them sentenced to death, gives the others weapons, and orders them to kill the first group.