Alleged Manic Murder Cult Leader Accused of Plotting Mass Casualty Event

(UnitedVoice.com) – There’s been a rise in antisemitic attacks across the country as a result of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. That’s not the only threat facing the Jewish community. They still have to contend with white supremacists. A federal grand jury recently indicted a Georgian national.

On July 16, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced the indictment against Michail Chkhikvishvili. The man is the suspected leader of a neo-Nazi organization based out of Eastern Europe called the Maniac Murder Cult. He was charged with soliciting acts of mass violence in New York City and hate crimes.

According to the press release, Chkhikvishvili also goes by the name of “Commander Butcher” and “Butcher.” The Maniac Murder Cult is an international, ethically and racially motivated hate group. The suspect allegedly recruited other neo-Nazis to commit violent acts to further the organization’s ideology. That included planning an attack on Jewish kids in Brooklyn and recruiting people to help him.

In 2022, Chkhikvishvili traveled to Brooklyn, where he used cellphone apps to help him carry out hate crimes. He allegedly conspired with the head of another white supremacist organization as well. One of the prospective recruits was an FBI agent. In 2023, the agent messaged Chkhikvishvili and asked if there was a way to join the organization. The alleged gang leader said that the group asks recruits to commit murders, beatings, or arson on video. He went on to say, “Poisoning and arson are best options for murder.”

That year, Chkhikvishvili began making plans to carry out a mass casualty event in New York City on New Year’s Eve. He wanted someone to dress up like Santa and hand “out candy laced with poison” to Jewish schoolchildren. The defendant allegedly created step-by-step instructions to carry out the crime. He wanted the murder to be bigger than the mass murder carried out by Anders Behring Breivik in Norway in 2011 that killed 77 people.

Chkhikvishvili is facing decades in prison.