Actually if we are getting into the Nitty gritty of exactly what the article states instead of intended purpose of expanding the narrow concept of evil.
"Some people may desire a bit less moral ambiguity for a character like this. That's fair; as I've mentioned, much of what qualifies him as Evil is simply the arbitrary nature of D&D morality. By almost any other metric, he comes across as more of a tragic hero or anti-hero. If you wish to remove that ambiguity, the easy solution is simply to follow the rationale of "those who fight monsters." Have him take just a little too much satisfaction from resorting to dirtier methods, or have him use violence as a first resort, rather than a last one. That readiness, nay, desire to get his hands dirty is what pushes a character like this from Neutral into Evil."
So yes IF you don't want any ambiguity, which is the opposite of the point, you can make him a sadist.
If you're making it ambiguous to the point that the LE character does not do evil acts and does not think evil thoughts, than at that point are the my really evil?
Like, let's take Sann for example.
He, as DP just mentioned, is NE.
He has no problems being subordinate to us, surrendering to us without any sort of struggle.
He is affable, helpful, and good at what he does.
Viserys himself likes him, and finds Sann to be a charming individual.
He's also on his best behavior with Viserys though, and even then he still is callous and has no problem with murder and torture and pillaging to get what he wants.
Back in deepcleft, he likely amuses himself with all sorts of petty cruelties, nothing that gets in the way of administration and thus nothing that would irritate us, but smaller things.
That would be a perfect example of a nuanced and ambiguous Evil character, because they are helpful and useful and have no problems serving while also being, well, evil.
Like, if you want an Evil minion, you would think they should actually be evil, you know?