Neo-Nazi leader sentenced for plot to poison Jewish children in New York

A Georgian national who led an international neo-Nazi extremist group has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for soliciting hate crimes and distributing instructions to make bombs and ricin, including a plot to poison Jewish children in New York City.

Michail Chkhikvishvili, also known as “Commander Butcher,” was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn, according to the U.S. Justice Department. He was extradited from Moldova to the United States in May 2025 and pleaded guilty in November.

Prosecutors identified Chkhikvishvili as a leader of Maniac Murder Cult, an international racially motivated violent extremist group also known by several aliases, including MKY and MKU. The group follows neo-Nazi ideology and promotes violence against racial minorities, Jewish people and other groups it describes as “undesirables.”

Beginning in 2021, Chkhikvishvili distributed a manifesto called the “Hater’s Handbook” to members of the group and others, according to prosecutors. The document encouraged mass violence, including school shootings, and included his claim that he had “murdered for the white race.”

Prosecutors said Chkhikvishvili used Telegram and other online platforms to recruit others to commit attacks on behalf of the group. One of the people he tried to recruit was an undercover FBI employee posing as an associate.

In November 2023, Chkhikvishvili began planning a mass casualty attack in New York City for New Year’s Eve. The plan involved having someone dress as Santa Claus and hand out poisoned candy to racial minorities.

By January 2024, the plot had shifted to Jewish targets in Brooklyn. Prosecutors said Chkhikvishvili directed the undercover employee to attack Jewish communities, Jewish schools and Jewish children with poison.

He also sent detailed manuals on making and mixing lethal poisons and gases, including ricin, and distributed instructions for making bombs, according to the Justice Department.

Federal prosecutors said Chkhikvishvili’s influence extended beyond the New York plot. In January 2025, a 17-year-old student killed one person and injured another at Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee, before dying by suicide. The attacker claimed in an audio recording that he was acting on behalf of Maniac Murder Cult, and his manifesto mentioned Chkhikvishvili.

Prosecutors also cited an August 2024 attack in Turkey, where a man livestreamed himself stabbing five people outside a mosque in Eskisehir while wearing a tactical vest with Nazi symbols. A manifesto attributed to the attacker referenced Chkhikvishvili and included propaganda tied to the group.