Neo-Nazi who plotted to poison Jewish children gets 15-year sentence in NYC

A federal court in New York City on Wednesday sentenced a neo-Nazi from the country of Georgia to 15 years in prison for crimes, including a plot to poison Jewish children.

Michail Chkhikvishvili, 22, is a leader of the Maniac Murder Cult, or MKY, an international white supremacist group that follows neo-Nazi ideology, prosecutors said.

Chkhikvishvili, who uses the moniker “Commander Butcher,” recruited followers to commit mass casualty attacks in New York City.

He had distributed a manifesto called the “Hater’s Handbook” that called on others to commit school shootings and other violent attacks “for the white race.”

One of the people he encouraged to commit the attacks was an undercover FBI agent.

In November 2023, Chkhikvishvili plotted a mass casualty attack set to take place on New Year’s Eve in New York City. He planned to have the assailant dress as Santa Claus and distribute poisonous candy to racial minorities.

In January 2024, he altered the plan and directed the FBI agent to target Jewish schools and Jewish children in Brooklyn with poison.

Chkhikvishvili sent detailed instructions to the agent about creating lethal poisons and gases, such as ricin.

Chkhikvishvili was extradited to the US from Moldova last year and pled guilty in November to soliciting hate crimes and sending instructions to make bombs and ricin, a lethal poison.

His incitement to violence was linked to at least two deadly attacks. One was a January 2025 school shooting in Tennessee. The 17-year-old shooter killed one person and then himself, livestreaming part of the attack. Before the shooting, he claimed he was acting on behalf of MKY and another group.

In August 2024, a man livestreamed himself stabbing around five people outside a mosque in Turkey while wearing Nazi symbols. A manifesto by the attacker referred to Chkhikvishvili, and before the stabbings, the assailant distributed a list to the Hater’s Handbook.