A 22-year-old Georgian national who identified himself as Commander Butcher was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison this week. Federal prosecutors stated that he led an international violent extremist group, distributed instructions for making bombs and ricin, and planned a mass casualty attack targeting Jewish communities in Brooklyn.
The Department of Justice announced the sentencing on May 13, with Michail Chkhikvishvili—also known as Mishka and Michael—being sentenced by U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon in the Eastern District of New York.
Chkhikvishvili had pleaded guilty in November to soliciting hate crimes and distributing information about manufacturing explosives and the deadly poison ricin.
According to federal prosecutors, Chkhikvishvili was the leader of an international racially motivated violent extremist group called Maniac Murder Cult. He traveled to Brooklyn in June 2022 and repeatedly encouraged others, primarily through Telegram, to commit violent hate crimes on behalf of the group.
Prosecutors alleged that Chkhikvishvili began soliciting an undercover FBI agent in late November 2023 to carry out bombings and arsons targeting racial minorities, Jewish individuals, and others. Among the discussed plans was a New Year’s Eve scheme involving an individual dressing as Santa Claus and distributing poisoned candy to racial minorities in New York City. The Justice Department noted that the plot later shifted to focus on Jewish communities, Jewish schools, and Jewish children in Brooklyn, with Chkhikvishvili providing manuals for lethal poisons and gases.
Federal authorities reported that Chkhikvishvili repeatedly encouraged others via Telegram to commit violent hate crimes under the Maniac Murder Cult banner. Prosecutors also linked his propaganda and calls for violence to attacks overseas and in the United States, including a planned school attack in Nashville in 2025 and a stabbing outside a mosque in Turkey in 2024.
The details are chilling: A man who styled himself as a butcher traveled to American soil and used encrypted messaging to orchestrate real-world violence against vulnerable targets, including children. The intended weapon of poisoned candy underscores the depravity described by prosecutors.
The FBI’s New York field office identified the case as a priority, and an undercover operation successfully intercepted Chkhikvishvili before any planned attacks could be carried out.
Chkhikvishvili wrote a letter to Judge Amon expressing remorse for spreading hatred and violence. His defense team requested a five-year sentence, citing mental health struggles and the influence of extremist material online. However, prosecutors described him as the leader of an Eastern European neo-Nazi group actively recruiting individuals to attack Jewish people and racial minorities.
The court imposed a 15-year sentence, triple the defense’s request. This decision reflects the severity of the threat Chkhikvishvili posed with real victims at the center of his plans.