Additional Coverage:
- ‘Commander Butcher’ pleads guilty in NY to plotting to hand out poisoned candy to kids (foxnews.com)
Neo-Nazi Leader Pleads Guilty to Horrific Plots, Including Poisoning Children
BROOKLYN, NY – A chilling plot involving a Santa Claus costume, poisoned candy, and attacks on Jewish and minority communities has been brought to light as the leader of an Eastern European neo-Nazi group, Michail Chkhikvishvili, 22, pleaded guilty in a New York federal court. Chkhikvishvili, who goes by the moniker “Commander Butcher,” admitted to soliciting hate crimes and sharing instructions for creating bombs and ricin.
Federal prosecutors revealed that Chkhikvishvili, hailing from the Republic of Georgia, led the “Maniac Murder Cult,” an extremist organization that actively advocates for violence to ignite a racial and religious war. He was extradited from Moldova to the Eastern District of New York in May.
“With today’s guilty plea, this defendant admits to a horrific plot targeting Jewish people and racial minorities and even planned to poison children with candy around the holidays,” stated FBI Director Kash Patel in a Department of Justice press release.
Court documents detail that Chkhikvishvili traveled to Brooklyn in June 2022 and subsequently began urging others, primarily through the encrypted messaging app Telegram, to commit violent hate crimes on behalf of his group. He repeatedly solicited mass-violence attacks from an individual who was, in fact, an undercover FBI employee.
Since at least 2021, Chkhikvishvili had been circulating a manifesto titled the “Hater’s Handbook,” which actively encourages mass violence, including school shootings.
By November 2023, prosecutors contend that Chkhikvishvili was directing the undercover agent to carry out bombings and arsons specifically targeting minorities and Jewish communities. That same month, he devised a New Year’s Eve mass casualty attack in New York City.
This sinister plan involved an assailant dressed as Santa Claus distributing poison-laced candy. In January, the plot shifted to targeting Jewish schools, communities, and children in Brooklyn, with Chkhikvishvili sending detailed instructions for creating lethal toxins, including ricin.
Federal officials have indicated that Chkhikvishvili’s inflammatory rhetoric has inspired real-world attacks. In January 2025, a 17-year-old gunman opened fire inside Antioch High School in Nashville, resulting in the death of one student and the wounding of another before the assailant took his own life. The attacker claimed to be acting on behalf of the Maniac Murder Cult and other associated groups.
Furthermore, in August 2024, an attacker in Eskisehir, Turkey, livestreamed himself stabbing several individuals outside a mosque while wearing a vest adorned with Nazi symbols. His manifesto explicitly cited Chkhikvishvili and provided links to the “Hater’s Handbook” and other propaganda.
Chkhikvishvili now faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, according to the Department of Justice.