Hoa Hao is a religious tradition, based on Buddhism, founded in 1939 by Huynh Phy Sy, a native of the Mekong River Delta region of southern Vietnam. When America began intervening in South Vietnam, the most powerful groups to concern the Americans were the Cao Dai, the Binh Xuyen and the Hoa Hao, which had formed a small private army under General Ba Ct. O.S.S. Colonel Edward Lansdale used bribery with CIA funds to split the Hoa Hao and in 1956 General Duong Van Minh crushed the Hoa Hao and General Ba Ct was captured and beheaded in public. This was the end of the Hoa Hao as an armed group, some later joining the Viet Cong in opposition to the Diem regime. After Diem was deposed and killed, the Hoa Hao changed their emphasis from anti Diem to anti Communist.