Trình Minh Thế

He was trained in military officer school by the Japanese Kempeitai when Japan began using Cao Đài paramilitary troops.

Thế's forces were implicated in a series of terrorist bombings in Saigon from 1951 to 1953—which were blamed on communists at the time—and may also have been responsible for the assassination of the French General Chanson at Sa Đéc in 1951.

In 1954, United States military advisor Edward Lansdale negotiated with Thế to use his militia to back up Ngô Đình Diệm and the ARVN.

However, as the South Vietnamese government faltered, many of the militia leaders declared their open opposition to Diệm and began an attempted coup.

Trình Minh Sơn, Thế's son, claims that his father was killed from a pistol with its muzzle against his head.