Michail Chkhikvishvili, the 21-year-old head of the Maniac Murder Cult, a white supremacist group, allegedly recruited others to commit arsons and bombings targeting racial minorities and the Jewish community, according to a news release from the Department of Justice (DOJ). Chkhikvishvili, also known by aliases including "Commander Butcher," claimed he has “murdered for the white race” and instructed followers to commit acts of mass violence and “ethnic cleansing.” The DOJ stated that Chkhikvishvili distributed a manifesto to members and other individuals that “encourages members to engage in acts of mass violence” to advance the group's goals. “For example, and among other things, 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 DOJ explained in its statement. “The document describes methods and strategies for committing mass ‘terror attacks,’ including, for example, using vehicles to target ‘large outdoor festivals, conventions, celebrations and parades’ and ‘pedestrian congested streets.’ It specifically encourages committing attacks within the United States,” the DOJ said. In November 2023, Chkhikvishvili discussed plans for a mass casualty attack in New York City on New Year’s Eve with an undercover FBI agent he believed to be a prospective recruit. The scheme involved having an individual dress as Santa Claus and hand out candy laced with poison to racial minorities and children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn. According to the DOJ, Chkhikvishvili drafted step-by-step plans to carry out the attack and shared detailed manuals with the undercover agent on creating and mixing lethal poisons and gases. He also demonstrated how to make ricin-based poisons through methods that included extracting the toxin from castor beans. Chkhikvishvili communicated through encrypted mobile messaging apps. Authorities say that some of the materials he transmitted have been linked to radical Islamist jihadist groups and designated foreign terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). If convicted, Chkhikvishvili faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.Federal authorities have indicted the alleged leader of a neo-Nazi extremist group for planning a mass casualty event in New York City.
