A Georgian national Michail Chkhikvishvili, also known as “Mishka,” “Michael,” “Commander Butcher” and “Butcher,” was indicted in the U.S. on July 16, and charged with soliciting hate crimes and a mass cruelty attack in New York City.

Chkhikvishvili was arrested in Chișinău, Moldova on July 6, 2024, pursuant to an Interpol Wanted Person Diffusion, which was issued based on a criminal complaint.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the indicted Georgian national was the leader of the Maniac Murder Cult, a White Supremacist Group, that allegedly recruited others to commit arsons and bombings targeting racial minorities and the Jewish Community.

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Matthew G. Olsen, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s National Security Division and Christie M. Curtis, Acting Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the arrest and charges.

The indicted man planned a New Year’s Eve Attack in November of 2023 that involved Santa Claus handing out poisoned candy to racial minorities as well as distributing poisoned candy to Jewish children in Brooklyn.

“As alleged, the defendant sought to recruit others to commit violent attacks and killings in furtherance of his Neo-Nazi ideologies,” said Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.  “His goal was to spread hatred, fear and destruction by encouraging bombings, arson and even poisoning children, for the purpose of harming racial minorities, the Jewish community and homeless individuals.  We will not hesitate to find and prosecute those who threaten the safety and freedoms of all members of our community, including members of minority communities, no matter where in the world these criminals might be hiding.”

According to the investigation, the individual planned the attack that would be a “bigger action than Breivik,” referring to Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian Neo-Nazi who killed 77 people in a bombing and mass shooting in Norway in 2011.

Meanwhile, the Georgian national told others of his plan and claimed to have previously committed other hate crimes while living in Brooklyn, New York in 2022.  He boasted to others that he was “glad I have murdered,” and that he would “murder more” but “make others murder first.”

If convicted, the man faces 20 years’ imprisonment for solicitation of violent felonies.

United States Attorney Peace praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), which consists of investigators and analysts from the FBI, the NYPD, and over 50 other federal, state and local agencies.