‘Commander Butcher’ Pleads Guilty After Plotting Poisoned Candy and Other Hate-Fueled Attacks

Michail Chkhikvishvili, 23, who called himself "Commander Butcher," pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn to soliciting bombings, school shootings and other hate-motivated violence across the United States. Prosecutors say he led an online extremist network known as the Maniac Murder Cult and recruited followers to carry out grotesque attacks, including a plan to have people dressed as Santa Claus hand out poison-laced candy in New York City.

Arrested in Moldova in May and now detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, Chkhikvishvili faces up to 18 years in prison at his March sentencing after entering the guilty plea. In court he expressed remorse, saying he planned to "do better with my life," and described coping with depression and anxiety while apologizing to "those communities" he had targeted.

Alleged Plots and Instructional Materials

According to court filings, Chkhikvishvili devised a range of violent schemes. In November 2023 he reportedly instructed associates to use "simple available stuff" to maximize casualties, advocated adding nails to devices for public attacks, and directed an undercover FBI agent to target Jewish schools and children in Brooklyn. He is also accused of distributing manuals, including a document dubbed the "Haters Handbook," with instructions on mixing poisons and planning mass violence.

Prosecutors say those materials and solicitations helped inspire others, including a livestreamed shooting at Antioch High School in Nashville in January that left one student dead and another injured. They also allege Chkhikvishvili solicited far-right extremists abroad, including Nicholas Welker (known online as King of Wrath), to promote and document attacks.

Extremist Ideology and International Reach

Researchers at the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point say the Maniac Murder Cult fused elements of Satanism and neo-Nazism and promoted a militant accelerationist ideology that encourages individuals to carry out violence rather than operate as traditional cells. Luke Baumgartner of George Washington University’s Program on Extremism described the group as part of a nihilistic trend that idolizes school shooters and aims to desensitize the public to violence.

"They look to inspire people to carry out their own individual acts of terror or violence designed to desensitize others to the thought of violence," Baumgartner said.

Legal and civil-rights experts emphasized the particular danger of plots targeting children and religious communities. Gerard Filitti of the Lawfare Project called the Santa-candy scheme "not just another hate crime — this was a terrorist plot targeting Jewish children" and urged authorities to dismantle transnational networks that radicalize and export violent ideology.

Federal officials say cases like this underscore the growing threat of racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism (RMVE), which a 2021 assessment by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence identified as the most lethal domestic extremist threat. Authorities have pledged continued efforts to disrupt online networks that inspire lone actors and small-cell violence.

Chkhikvishvili’s guilty plea closes one chapter in an investigation that highlights how online communities can radicalize young people and spread lethal tactics internationally. Prosecutors say his actions demonstrate the evolving, globalized nature of contemporary violent extremism and the challenges of countering ideologies that thrive in isolated online spaces.