A leader of an Eastern European neo-Nazi organization has confessed in a New York courtroom to recruiting individuals for violent acts against Jews and racial minorities. His plans included a chilling scheme to disguise himself as Santa Claus and distribute poisoned candy to children.
Michail Chkhikvishvili, 22, hailing from the Republic of Georgia and known by the alias “Commander Butcher,” admitted in a Brooklyn federal court on Monday to soliciting hate crimes and disseminating instructions for creating bombs and the deadly toxin ricin.
According to federal prosecutors, Chkhikvishvili was at the helm of the Maniac Murder Cult, an extremist faction advocating for violence as a means to incite racial and religious conflict. After being extradited from Moldova, he faced charges in the Eastern District of New York in May.
FBI Director Kash Patel remarked in a Department of Justice press release, “With today’s guilty plea, this defendant acknowledges his horrific plans targeting Jewish communities and racial minorities, including a scheme to poison children with holiday candy.”
Photographs of Michail Chkhikvishvili, 22, were made available by the U.S. Department of Justice. (Department of Justice)
Chkhikvishvili made his way to Brooklyn in June 2022, where he began encouraging others, primarily through the encrypted messaging app Telegram, to engage in violent hate crimes for the group. Unbeknownst to him, he solicited mass-violence attacks from an undercover FBI agent, as stated by prosecutors.
Since at least 2021, he had circulated a manifesto, the “Hater’s Handbook,” which encourages mass violence, including school shootings.
Federal prosecutors said Chkhikvishvili could face up to 40 years in prison. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis, File)
By November 2023, prosecutors say, he was directing the undercover agent to carry out bombings and arsons targeting minorities and Jewish communities. That month, he devised a New Year’s Eve mass casualty attack in New York City involving a Santa‑clad assailant handing out poison‑laced candy. In January, he shifted the plot to targeting Jewish schools, communities and children in Brooklyn and sent detailed instructions for creating lethal toxins, including ricin.
Federal officials say his rhetoric inspired real‑world attacks.Â
In January 2025, a 17‑year‑old gunman opened fire inside Antioch High School in Nashville, killing one student and wounding another before shooting himself. The attacker claimed to act on behalf of the Maniac Murder Cult and other groups.
In January 2025, a school shooting at Antioch High School in Nashville left one student dead and another wounded. The shooter, a 17-year-old student, had claimed to act on behalf of the Maniac Murder Cult and other groups. (X/@MNPDNashville)
In August 2024, an attacker in Eskisehir, Turkey, livestreamed himself stabbing several people outside a mosque while wearing a vest with Nazi symbols. His manifesto cited Chkhikvishvili and linked to the “Hater’s Handbook” and other propaganda.
Chkhikvishvili faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, the DOJ said.
