{"id":46315,"date":"2025-11-20T18:16:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T18:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/46315\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T18:16:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T18:16:11","slug":"neo-nazi-leader-pleads-guilty-in-ny-to-recruiting-for-violent-hate-crimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/46315\/","title":{"rendered":"Neo-Nazi leader pleads guilty in NY to recruiting for violent hate crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n

The leader of an Eastern European neo-Nazi group pleaded guilty in New York to recruiting others to carry out violent attacks<\/a> against Jews and racial minorities \u2014 including a plot to dress as Santa Claus and hand out poisoned candy to children.<\/p>\n

Michail Chkhikvishvili, 22, of the Republic of Georgia, who goes by “Commander Butcher,” admitted Monday in Brooklyn federal court to soliciting hate crimes and sharing instructions for making bombs and ricin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors say Chkhikvishvili led the Maniac Murder Cult, an extremist group advocating violence to spark a racial and religious war. He was extradited from Moldova to the Eastern District of New York in May.<\/p>\n

“With today\u2019s guilty plea, this defendant admits to a horrific plot targeting Jewish people and racial minorities and even planned to poison children with candy around the holidays,” FBI Director Kash Patel<\/a> said in a DOJ press release.<\/p>\n

SUSPECTED NEW JERSEY JIHADI FANTASIZED ABOUT KILLING JEWS WITH SWORDS IN ALLEGED ISIS PLOT: FEDS<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Michail <\/p>\n

Michail Chkhikvishvili, 22, of the Republic of Georgia, who goes by “Commander Butcher,” admitted Monday in Brooklyn federal court to soliciting hate crimes and sharing instructions for making bombs and ricin.\u00a0 (Department of Justice)<\/p>\n

Chkhikvishvili traveled to Brooklyn in June<\/a> 2022 and soon began urging others \u2014 mainly via the encrypted app Telegram \u2014 to commit violent hate crimes for the group. He repeatedly solicited mass\u2011violence attacks from someone who turned out to be an undercover FBI employee, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

Since at least 2021, he had circulated a manifesto, the “Hater\u2019s Handbook,” which encourages mass violence, including school shootings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"New <\/p>\n

The Brooklyn Federal Courthouse. (REUTERS\/Eduardo Munoz)<\/p>\n

By November 2023, prosecutors say, he was directing the undercover agent to carry out bombings and arsons targeting minorities and Jewish communities. That month, he devised a New Year\u2019s Eve mass casualty attack in New York City<\/a> involving a Santa\u2011clad assailant handing out poison\u2011laced candy. In January, he shifted the plot to targeting Jewish schools, communities and children in Brooklyn and sent detailed instructions for creating lethal toxins, including ricin.<\/p>\n

ANTISEMITIC ATTACKER FACED 30-YEAR SENTENCE, GETS LESS THAN 1\u00bd YEARS IN PLEA DEAL<\/a><\/p>\n

Federal officials say his rhetoric inspired real\u2011world attacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In January 2025, a 17\u2011year\u2011old gunman opened fire inside Antioch High School<\/a> in Nashville, killing one student and wounding another before shooting himself. The attacker claimed to act on behalf of the Maniac Murder Cult and other groups.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

In January 2025, a school shooting at Antioch High School in Nashville left one student dead and another wounded. The shooter, a 17-year-old student, had claimed to act on behalf of the Maniac Murder Cult and other groups. (X\/@MNPDNashville)<\/p>\n

In August 2024, an attacker in Eskisehir, Turkey, livestreamed himself stabbing several people outside a mosque<\/a> while wearing a vest with Nazi symbols. His manifesto cited Chkhikvishvili and linked to the “Hater\u2019s Handbook” and other propaganda.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n

Chkhikvishvili faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, the DOJ said.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! The leader of an Eastern European neo-Nazi group pleaded guilty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[1993,128,303,11017,1082,9,24,63,3694,129,131,130,618],"class_list":["post-46315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-anti-semitism","tag-bronx","tag-crime","tag-federal-courts","tag-justice-department","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-terrorism","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}