"NEW YORK (AP) - The leader of an Eastern European neo-Nazi group who tried to recruit an undercover federal agent to dress as Santa Claus and hand out poisoned candy to Jewish children and racial minorities has pleaded guilty to soliciting hate crimes. Federal prosecutors said they would seek a sentence of up to 18 years for Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 22-year-old from the Republic of Georgia who also goes by "Commander Butcher.""
"Prosecutors described Chkhikvishvili as the leader of the Maniac Murder Cult, an international extremist group that 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.'" They said the group's violent solicitations - promoted through Telegram channels and outlined a manifesto called the "Hater's Handbook" - appear to have inspired multiple real-life killings, including a school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, earlier this year that left a 16-year-old student dead."
Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 22-year-old from the Republic of Georgia who calls himself "Commander Butcher," pleaded guilty to soliciting violent felonies and distributing instructions for making bombs and ricin. He led the Maniac Murder Cult, a neo-Nazi accelerationist group that promotes violence against racial minorities, the Jewish community and other groups. The group's manifesto, the "Hater's Handbook," and Telegram solicitations appear to have inspired multiple killings, including a Nashville school shooting. Chkhikvishvili traveled repeatedly to Brooklyn, bragged about assaulting an elderly Jewish man, recruited an undercover agent for a poison-in-candy Santa scheme, was arrested in Moldova in July 2024, and extradited in May.
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