A leader of a neo-Nazi organization originally from Eastern Europe has been charged with inciting hate crimes and planning attacks against minorities in New York. In one of his plots, he planned to distribute poisoned candies to Jewish children.
The New York District Attorney's Office filed an indictment on Tuesday against Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 21-year-old man from Georgia. Chkhikvishvili, also known by the nickname "Commander Butcher," headed a neo-nazi “murder cult."
According to U.S. prosecutors, Chkhikvishvili commanded an international organization with a neo-Nazi ideology that advocates white supremacy and recruited individuals to attack Jews and other minorities.
The U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement that Chkhikvishvili's organization aimed to destabilize social order and governance through terror and acts of violence that induce fear and chaos.
Chkhikvishvili was arrested after attempting to recruit an undercover FBI agent to join his organization and participate in deploying explosives and committing arson. In November 2023, he tried to recruit an agent for a "mass casualty event" aimed to take place in New York on Christmas Eve.
"The scheme involved an individual dressing up as Santa Claus and handing out candy laced with poison to racial minorities and children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn,” the Justice Department’s statement read. Chkhikvishvili detailed the steps to execute the plan and told the undercover agent how to prepare the poison.
In September 2021, Chkhikvishvili began distributing a manifesto called "Hater’s Handbook," where he declared that he had "murdered for the white race" and encouraged others to follow in his footsteps. "The handbook encourages its readers to commit school shootings and to use children to perpetrate suicide bombings and other mass killings targeting racial minorities," the statement added.
Chkhikvishvili, who lived with his grandmother in Brooklyn, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.