‘Commander Butcher' Who Led Neo-Nazi Group Faces Charges in Brooklyn
A Georgian man known as 'Commander Butcher' helped lead the Maniac Murder Cult, a neo-Nazi group that has inspired killings around the world, according to federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, where he appeared in court on Friday after his extradition.
Among the crimes that the man, Michail Chkhikvishvili, inspired were a school shooting in Nashville, a mass stabbing outside a mosque in Turkey and the brutal murder of an older woman in Romania, prosecutors say.
Mr. Chkhikvishvili, who was living in Moldova at the time of his extradition, also promoted violence in New York, according to prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York. In 2023, he plotted to have one of his followers distribute poisoned candy to Jewish children and members of other racial minorities on New Year's Eve, they said.
The case, even though it is being prosecuted in Brooklyn, provides a lens into the spread — and global reach — of right-wing violence and extremism. Far-right violence has been rising in countries like Germany and Britain, though groups like the one Mr. Chkhikvishvili is accused of leading remain on the fringe of mainstream politics. In the United States, white supremacist violence was named a top threat by officials in the Biden administration.
Mr. Chkhikvishvili, 21, was arrested in Chisinau, Moldova, in July 2024 and extradited on Thursday. He made his first appearance in Federal District Court on Friday before Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo.
'These allegations right now are easy to make, but hard to prove,' said Sam Gregory, Mr. Chkhikvishvili's lawyer, in an interview after the court proceeding.
Andrew D. Reich, a prosecutor, said Mr. Chkhikvishvili had 'spent years soliciting gruesome attacks from his followers.' He said the defendant had been detained in Moldova while trying to travel to Ukraine to recruit more neo-Nazi extremists.
'These were not merely empty threats,' Mr. Reich said.
Mr. Chkhikvishvili, who pleaded not guilty, briefly addressed Judge Kuo in English before listening to the court proceedings through a Russian-speaking translator. He faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted of the charges, which include conspiring to solicit hate crimes and transmitting threatening communications.
According to prosecutors, Mr. Chkhikvishvili was a leader of the Maniac Murder Cult, a Russian and Ukrainian neo-Nazi group that encourages its followers to commit mass killings.
Since 2021, prosecutors said, Mr. Chkhikvishvili has helped publish editions of a manifesto called the 'Hater's Handbook.' It calls on readers to carry out school shootings and gives them suggestions on how to commit mass murder, including by targeting crowded outdoor gatherings.
In 2023, Mr. Chkhikvishvili began discussing plans to murder Jews, racial minorities and homeless people en masse, prosecutors say. Over the encrypted messaging app Telegram, he provided detailed instructions about how to carry out the New Year's Eve attack to an undercover F.B.I. agent he thought was a prospective member of his group, according to prosecutors.
Mr. Chkhikvishvili wrote that to lace the candy, 'ricin would be most simple.' After giving out the poisoned treats to 'many racial minorities and traitors,' the perpetrator, who was to be dressed as Santa, was to burn his clothes.
'Big beard, makeup, glasses, shave unnecessary body hair and put fake white eyebrows,' Mr. Chkhikvishvili wrote.
The attack never materialized. But prosecutors say Mr. Chkhikvishvili has successfully inspired other acts of violence.
On Jan. 22, a 17-year-old student shot and killed a schoolmate at Antioch High School in Nashville. According to prosecutors, the shooter said he had been acting partly on behalf of the Maniac Murder Club, and his manifesto included references to Mr. Chkhikvishvili.
Last August, a person wearing a tactical vest with Nazi symbols stabbed five people outside a mosque in Eskisehir, Turkey. His manifesto also included references to Mr. Chkhikvishvili, prosecutors said. In 2022, a German teenager murdered a 74-year-old woman living in Romania as part of what he said had been an initiation into the cult.
According to prosecutors, Mr. Chkhikvishvili wanted the planned attack in New York to be 'a bigger action than Breivik,' an apparent reference to Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian neo-Nazi who killed 77 people in 2011.
Maniac Murder Club is part of a rising tide of European extremism. On Wednesday, German police arrested five teenagers in connection with a violent neo-Nazi group that, like the Maniac Murder Club, believes in destabilizing society through violence against minorities.
In the United States, right-wing and white supremacist group have recently taken to attacking energy grids and other critical infrastructure.
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