A leader of an Eastern European neo-Nazi group was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for soliciting violent attacks against the Jewish community and members of minority groups, including a scheme to distribute poisoned candy to children during the holidays.
Michail Chkhikvishvili, 22, known as the “Commander Butcher,” pleaded guilty last year to soliciting hate crimes and distributing instructions to make bombs and ricin. He appeared in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, on Wednesday, where U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon imposed concurrent 180-month sentences on the two counts.
“The defendant is not sentenced because of his warped views,” Amon said. “He is being sentenced for his calls to action.”
Chkhikvishvili, a Georgian national, appeared in green prison garb and fought back tears as his sentence was handed down.
Federal prosecutors described him as the leader of an extremist group called the Maniac Murder Cult, which promotes racially motivated violence. Based in Russia and Ukraine, the group espouses neo-Nazi ideology and has members in the U.S. and around the world, according to court documents.
Prosecutors said Chkhikvishvili used messaging platforms such as Telegram to solicit attacks and circulated a manifesto titled “Hater’s Handbook,” which encouraged followers to commit school shootings and terrorist attacks.
“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,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said in a statement Wednesday. “Today’s sentence sends a strong message to hateful extremists, wherever you are, who seek to spread fear through unspeakable violence: we will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”
In 2022, after having traveled to Brooklyn, Chkhikvishvili urged followers on various messaging platforms to target members of the Jewish community and racial minorities in New York City, prosecutors said.
A year later, he began communicating with an undercover FBI agent he believed to be a prospective member of the Maniac Murder Cult, encouraging the agent to commit violent acts ranging from murder to bombing and poisoning, according to court documents. He was arrested in 2024 and extradited to the U.S. last year.
One plot involved killing members of racial minority groups and others in New York City on New Year’s Eve by dressing as Santa Claus and distributing candy laced with poison, prosecutors said. The scheme evolved into a plan to poison children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn.
Defense attorney Zachary Taylor asked the court for a shorter sentence, arguing that Chkhikvishvili had been radicalized as a teenager while he struggled with depression and bullying. Taylor called his client’s conduct “horrible” and “harmful” and said “Michail would not disagree in any way with that statement.”
Federal prosecutors, however, said Chkhikvishvili’s propaganda also incited multiple attacks and killings worldwide, including the shooting last year at Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee. The gunman claimed to have acted on behalf of the Maniac Murder Cult, according to court documents.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Reich said the case is “about sustained and deliberate solicitation of violence.”
“Extremists who hid behind a computer screen will be held accountable,” Reich said.
During the hearing, an Antioch student read a victim impact statement by speakerphone. “School was a place where I felt safe,” the student said. “That sense of safety was taken from me and has not returned.”
The student added: “What happened was not random. The shooter’s action was prompted by the defendant.”
Chkhikvishvili took responsibility for his past conduct, saying the students didn’t deserve to experience the violence. “I didn’t see myself as a man back then,” he said.
