Wednesday, July 17, 2024
Alleged neo-Nazi ‘murder cult’ leader accused of plot to poison children
Federal authorities have charged the suspected leader of an Eastern European-based neo-Nazi group with harboring plans to have an associate dress up as Santa Claus and hand out candy laced with poison to Jewish and minority children in New York City.
Michail Chkhikvishvili, a Georgian national in his early 20s who goes by the alias "Commander Butcher," was indicted on four charges, the Justice Department said in a statement on Tuesday, including the transmission of threatening communications and conspiracy to solicit hate crimes and acts of mass violence.
He is alleged to be the leader of a group known as the Maniac Murder Cult, a violent international extremist outfit that prosecutors say "adheres to a neo-Nazi accelerationist ideology and promotes violence and violent acts against racial minorities, the Jewish community and other groups it deems 'undesirables.'"
The group is believed to be based in Russia and Ukraine, with members around the world, including the United States.
It was not immediately clear whether Chkhikvishvili had an attorney.
According to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, he was arrested in Moldova on July 6 under an Interpol order after trying to recruit an undercover law enforcement officer to join the group and commit acts of violence, including arson and bombings.
Prosecutors say Chkhikvishvili began plotting in late 2023 to carry out an attack that year in New York City on New Year's Eve. According to the Justice Department statement, "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."
Chkhikvishvili sought to persuade the undercover law enforcement employee posing as a potential recruit to carry out the plan, providing step-by-step instructions and details on how to mix lethal poisons.
In electronic correspondence with the employee, who was not identified in court documents, Chkhikvishvili later suggested carrying out the plan at another time, on "some Jewish holiday" at "Jewish schools full of kids."
When the undercover employee warned that the attack would "bring alot of heat" on the group, Chkhikvishvili responded, "That's what we exactly want." The Georgian national also discussed publishing a video of the planned attack, hoping that it could make the cult "bigger than Al Qaeda."
According to court documents, Chkhikvishvili since 2021 has distributed a manifesto titled the "Hater's Handbook," in which he encourages others to commit acts meant to sow terror — specifically within the United States — and admits to committing such acts himself.
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