Trí was accused of involvement in a money-smuggling ring at the same time of his successful campaign in Cambodia in 1970. At the time, he lived in a spacious villa equipped with a swimming pool in Biên Hòa. He was known for his flamboyant style, wearing a camouflage jungle suit, a black three-starred cap to indicate his rank, carrying a snub-nosed Smith & Wesson .38 handgun, and was always seen with a swagger stick, quipping ""I use it to spank the Viet Cong"". As a lieutenant general, he performed brilliantly as commander of III Corps during the 1970 Cambodian Campaign, earning a laudatory sobriquet from the United States news media as ""the Patton of the Parrot's Beak"".