Neo-Nazi Leader Who Plotted to Poison Children Is Sentenced to 15 Years
A neo-Nazi leader who plotted to kill children he described as “racial minorities and traitors” by having someone dressed as Santa Claus hand out poisoned candy in New York City was sentenced on Wednesday to 15 years in federal prison.
The man, Michail Chkhikvishvili, 22, a Georgian citizen known as Commander Butcher, was the leader of Maniac Murder Cult, an international extremist group that encouraged people to commit acts of hate and violence, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Mr. Chkhikvishvili inspired a school shooting in Nashville last year, the stabbing of five people near a mosque in Turkey in 2024 and the murder of a 74-year-old woman in Romania in 2022. He insisted that his followers record their attacks to prove they were successful and to promote Maniac Murder Cult online, prosecutors said.
In the case of the shooting in Nashville, in which a 17-year-old student at Antioch High School fatally shot another student and then killed himself, the attacker mentioned Mr. Chkhikvishvili by name in his writings, prosecutors said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/nyregion/neo-nazi-leader-sentenced-poisoned-candy.html