Funny you should say this. It was like one of those lightening bolts that came out of the sky and bonked me on the head. I would have to agree, every single time that I have been in a horrible work situation where everyone was unhappy, afraid of losing their job and just miserable, they worked for one or more of these type of people. I kind of blamed what happened on the companies but in retrospect, what they had were some managers who were Narcissistic sociopaths.
How to Work for a Narcissistic Boss
This is kind of an interesting article on how to work with them (although I never would again). I found most of the people already on the team that I joined at one company were deliberately unhelpful (hiding critical information), liars and backstabbers because they were forced to be in order to hold on to their jobs in an environment created by a narcissistic sociopathic manager.
All I can say is the second that you realize that you're working for one of these people, get out. Because they will throw you under the bus eventually, and if they don't their minions will. You can count on it.