The head of a neo-Nazi group, notorious for its violent intentions, has confessed to plotting a large-scale terror attack aimed at Jewish children in New York City.
Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 22-year-old from Georgia also known by the alias ‘Commander Butcher,’ admitted in a Brooklyn federal courtroom to encouraging hate crimes and disseminating bomb-making instructions.
Chkhikvishvili led an international extremist organization named the Maniac Murder Cult, recruiting individuals to join in coordinating and executing a mass casualty event in New York.
Authorities reported that he arrived in New York in June 2022 and quickly began urging others, primarily through the messaging app Telegram, to commit violent acts of hate under the banner of the Maniac Murder Cult.
In one instance, he tried to incite mass violence through an individual who was, unbeknownst to him, an undercover FBI agent.
Chkhikvishvili had approached the undercover agent with intentions of orchestrating bombings and arson attacks aimed at racial minorities, with a particular focus on Jewish communities.
In November 2023, he began planning a mass casualty event which he hoped to take place on New Year’s Eve.
The scheme involved having a person dress up as Santa Claus and hand out poison-laced candy to minority children.
Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 22-year-old Georgian national who is also known as ‘Commander Butcher’, pleaded guilty to soliciting hate crimes and providing bomb making instructions in a Brooklyn federal courthouse on Monday
In November 2023, he began planning a mass casualty event which he hoped to take place on New Year’s Eve. The scheme involved having a person dress up as Santa Claus and hand out poison-laced candy to racial minorities
Initially, he said it was crucial that the plan unfold on New Year’s Eve, and after handing out the candy, he instructed the individual to catch a taxi to a pre-determined location where a new set of clothing would have been waiting, burn the Santa costume and get rid of burner phones, and return home undetected.
When the plan did not occur as intended, it evolved in January 2024 to specifically target Jewish children and schools in Brooklyn.
In a ‘Hater’s Handbook’ which Chkhikvishvili has been distributing to members of his cult since as early as September 2021, readers are encouraged to commit school shootings.
He was extradited from Moldova to America to face the allegations in May 2025, and on Monday the Justice Department confirmed he had entered a guilty plea.
‘Violent, nihilistic, racist groups like these are an ongoing threat to the American people – our vigilance will not waver as we protect our citizens,’ Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
Police said that on at least two occasions, Chkhikvishvili’s words of encouragement led two fatal attacks.
In January 2025, a 17-year-old student killed one individual and injured another before dying by suicide inside Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee at the direction of the cult, prosecutors said.
‘The attacker livestreamed part of the attack. Prior to the attack, in an audio recording posted online and attributed to him, the attacker claimed he was taking action on behalf of Maniac Murder Cult and at least one other group. The attacker’s manifesto explicitly mentioned Chkhikvishvili’, officials said.
Chkhikvishvili was the leader of the international violent extremist group Maniac Murder Cult, and recruited participants to take part in planning and committing a mass casualty attack in New York
Police said that on at least two occasions, Chkhikvishvili’s words of encouragement led fatal attacks. In January 2025, a 17-year-old student ‘killed one individual and injured another before dying by suicide inside Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee,’ authorities said.
And back in August 2024, a different individual ‘livestreamed himself stabbing approximately five people outside of a mosque in Eskisehir, Turkey, wearing a tactical vest bearing Nazi symbols.
‘A manifesto attributed to the attacker included explicit references to Chkhikvishvili and to violent statements made by him.
‘Before the attack, the attacker also distributed a link to the Hater’s Handbook, authored by Chkhikvishvili, and other violent propaganda.’
Assistant Attorney General Eisenberg said: ‘Chkhikvishvili’s monstrous plots and propaganda calling for racially motivated violence against civilians, including children, posed a grave threat to public safety.
‘Unfortunately, his efforts on behalf of the aptly named Maniac Murder Cult in fact caused mayhem and death. We condemn his despicable ideology and will use every tool at our disposal to bring such predators to justice.’
Chkhikvishvili faces a maximum sentence of 40 years’ imprisonment.
