A Georgian national known as “Commander Butcher,” who admitted to plotting a mass-casualty attack targeting Jews and minorities in New York City, was sentenced on Wednesday to 15 years in federal prison, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Michail Chkhikvishvili, 22, a leader of the neo-Nazi extremist group Maniac Murder Cult, pleaded guilty in November to soliciting hate crimes and distributing bomb-making and ricin instructions. He was extradited from Moldova.
Federal authorities said that the plot evolved into a plan to poison Jewish children in Brooklyn on New Year’s Eve by distributing candy laced with toxins, and that Chkhikvishvili tried to recruit someone to dress as Santa Claus and pass out the poisoned candy.
Prosecutors said that he encouraged followers through Telegram and other online platforms to carry out attacks against Jews, racial minorities and others, distributing a manifesto called the “Hater’s Handbook.”
According to prosecutors, Chkhikvishvili incited attacks in Nashville in 2025 and in Eskisehir, Turkey, in 2024.
“The defendant is a hate-mongering menace who intended to hurt and kill children in the Jewish community and in other minority communities in New York City,” stated Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
“As a leader of the white supremacist group ‘Maniac Murder Cult,’ this defendant concocted hate-fueled, mass-casualty plans and inspired others to commit attacks based on his vile rhetoric,” stated Jessica Tisch, commissioner of the New York City Police Department.
“This violent extremist’s intentions were clear: harm and kill as many Jews and racial groups as possible, but thanks to the work of our NYPD investigators, along with the FBI and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, he is now off our streets and being held accountable for his hateful crimes,” she stated.
