A neo-Nazi from Georgia concocted a diabolical scheme to have someone don a Santa Claus outfit and distribute poisoned candy to racial minorities and Jewish children in New York City on New Year’s Eve.
20-year-old neo-Nazi indicted
On Monday, Michail Chkhikvishvili, 20, was indicted by a Brooklyn grand jury on four counts, including soliciting hate crimes and planning mass violence in New York City.
Known by aliases “Michael” and “Commander Butcher,” Chkhikvishvili was identified as a leader of the “Maniac Murder Cult”—an “international racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist group,” per Eastern District of New York prosecutors.
The group, abbreviated as MKY, adheres to neo-Nazi ideologies and advocates violence against racial minorities, the Jewish community, and other groups they label as “undesirables.”
Their aim is to “challenge social order and governments via terrorism and violent acts that promote fear and chaos,” and have members in the United States as well as the rest of the world.
According to the criminal complaint against him, Chkhikvishvili allegedly tried to get current members and prospects of MKY to undertake violent acts on behalf of the group.
Starting in November 2023, he sought the assistance of one potential MKY recruit, who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent, to carry out violent actions.
In the same month, he initiated plans for a mass casualty event in New York City, intending for the undercover agent to dress as Santa Claus and hand out poison-laced candies to racial minorities and children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn.
He provided the agent with detailed instructions on executing the plot, along with manuals for creating and mixing poisons.
In those directives, he advised the agent to buy poison ingredients and chocolates anonymously, either through a delivery service or with cash, to burn the Santa costume after use, and to place Christmas “socks” filled with candies in random apartments.
Chkhikvishvili “made detailed and specific overtures” to incite the undercover law enforcement officer to “commit acts of mass violence” targeting Jewish people, minorities, and homeless individuals in New York City, including bombings, arson, and the dissemination of poisons.
Some materials he gave to the undercover agent have been linked to radical Islamist jihadist groups and foreign terrorist organizations like ISIS, according to prosecutors.
Chkhikvishvili was apprehended in Chișinău, Moldova, on July 6, following an Interpol Wanted Person Diffusion issued based on a criminal complaint.
Young neo-Nazi had chilling plans
Chkhikvishvili has been spreading the word about MKY online for the last few years.
He has sent out his manifesto titled the “Hater’s Handbook” to MKY members and others since September 2021, in which he claimed to have “murdered for the white race” and advocated for “ethnic cleansing.”
Prosecutors said he arrived in Brooklyn in June 2022 and visited his grandmother in order to further his cause.
He bragged online about harming an elderly Orthodox Jewish man he was caring for while working at a rehabilitation facility in Brooklyn.
By July 2022, he repeatedly urged others, primarily on encrypted mobile messaging platforms, to “commit violent hate crimes and other acts of violence on behalf of MKY.
“His goal was to spread hatred, fear and destruction by encouraging bombings, arson and even poisoning children, for the purpose of harming racial minorities, the Jewish community and homeless individuals,” Breon Peace, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, remarked in a statement.
“We will not hesitate to find and prosecute those who threaten the safety and freedoms of all members of our community, including members of minority communities, no matter where in the world these criminals might be hiding.”
Chkhikvishvili faced additional charges of conspiracy to solicit violent felonies, distribution of information about making and using explosive devices, and transmitting threatening communications.
If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison for soliciting violent felonies, five years for conspiring to solicit violent felonies, 20 years for distributing information on making and using explosive devices, and five years for transmitting threatening communications.
