Federal authorities charged a man nicknamed “Commander Butcher” with soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence after uncovering an alleged plot to have an individual wearing a Santa Claus costume hand out poisoned candies to Jewish kids in New York, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday .
Michail Chkhikvishvili, a leader of the white supremacist Maniac Murder Cult, came up with the Santa Claus scheme to poison New York City children on New Year’s Eve, according to a federal indictment filed Monday in the Eastern District of New York. The neo-Nazi ideology adherent concocted a separate plot to poison Jewish kids in Brooklyn and boasted he tortured a "dying jew" in his care, court documents said.
The Georgian national was arrested under an Interpol order on July 6 in Moldova, where he is being held, according to John Marzulli, a spokesperson for the Eastern District. Marzulli did not respond to questions about whether Chkhikvishvili would be extradited to the U.S.
Chkhikvishvili, 20, faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted; 20 years for soliciting violent felonies; 5 years for conspiring to solicit violent felonies; 20 years for distributing information on making explosives; and 5 years for sending threatening messages, according to the Justice Department.
"As alleged, the defendant sought to recruit others to commit violent attacks and killings in furtherance of his Neo-Nazi ideologies," said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace. "His goal was to spread hatred, fear, and destruction by encouraging bombings, arson, and even poisoning children."
Marzulli declined to offer any additional comment for the story. Chkhikvishvili could not be reached.
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Authorities allege Chkhikvishvili was a leader in the Maniac Murder Cult, a racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist group, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force agent.
The group is based in Russia and Ukraine but has members around the world, including the U.S., the agent writes in the federal complaint that led to his arrest. Members adhere to neo-Nazi ideology promoting violence against racial minorities.
Members use an encrypted social media platform based outside the U.S. and not named in the complaint to communicate and share videos of violence, including beatings and stabbings. Leaders aimed to use the channels to recruit members experienced in explosives or biological weapons to plot mass terror attacks.
Chkhikvishvili used the alias "Commander Butcher" in the encrypted channels where he published a manifesto titled Hater’s Handbook glorifying racial violence with chapter titles including "White Race One Race," according to court filings.
"I can proudly say I’ve murdered for white race and willing to bring more of chaos in this rotten world," Butcher writes in the introduction. "Our main goal is to spread flames of Lucifer and continue his mission of ethnic cleansing, great drive of purification."
Chkhikvishvili also attempted to work with the leader of the Feuerkrieg Division, another hate group, who ultimately pleaded guilty to making death threats against a Brooklyn-based journalist in September 2023, according to court filings.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that Nicholas Welker pleaded guilty to sending death threats against a New York journalist on Sep. 27, 2023. The California-based hate group leader was sentenced to nearly four years in prison in April.
Chkhikvishvili messaged the Feuerkrieg Division leader between July 2022 and his arrest in March 2023, bragging about the Maniac Murder Cult’s ability to commit violence and about torturing a Jewish man under his care at the rehab facility where he worked. The two corresponded about how to avoid authorities.
Among those Chkhikvishvili tried to incite violence and provided bomb-making instructions to was an undercover FBI agent, according to the federal complaint. The two corresponded between September 2023 and at least March 2024.
Chkhikvishvili tried to convince the agent to realize the Santa Claus plot and the plot to poison Jewish kids in Brooklyn, court filings say. He sent the agent what he called "murder vids" depicting graphic violence.
The Maniac Murder Cult leader saw the agent as a potential recruit and encouraged him to commit “mass murder” against "low race targets" to officially join, according to court documents. He also sent step-by-step instructions for building a bomb and committing arson, adding he should target "homeless people."
Part of the Santa Plot instructions described in the complaint included leaving out stockings stuffed with poisoned candies. The poison-making instructions came from the Mujahideen Poisons Handbook, a text linked to ISIS.
The Maniac Murder Cult leader dreamed of capturing a video of the poisoning that would go viral, boasting “MMC will become bigger than Al Qaeda once it drops.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Feds say Neo-Nazi 'murder cult' leader plotted to poison Jewish kids in New York City
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