Neo-Nazi ‘Santa’ plot aimed to kill children; poisoned-candy suspect arrested

Federal authorities said Tuesday that they disrupted a neo-Nazi plot last year to have a person dressed as Santa Claus give out poisoned candy to racial minorities in New York City.

Authorities said the plot also envisioned sending ricin-laced candy to Jewish schools in Brooklyn.

Prosecutors secured an indictment Monday against Michail Chkhikvishvili, a Georgian citizen who they say was the mastermind behind the plot and ran the Maniac Murder Cult, a hate group determined to attack minorities.

“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,” said Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Mr. Chkhikvishvili, 20, was arrested in Moldova on July 6 pursuant to an Interpol notice.

In 2022, he was staying with his grandmother in Brooklyn and trying to recruit people for his plots to further what the FBI labeled his neo-Nazi ideology.

One of those he recruited was an undercover FBI employee who asked to join the cult in September. Mr. Chkhikvishvili then encouraged the FBI operative to take part in the New Year’s Eve attack using Santa Claus to hand out poisoned candy “to many racial minorities and traitors.”

“And most important it must be done on 31 December,” Mr. Chkhikvishvili wrote in a plan that authorities included in court papers. “You can also install Santa socks with candies in random apartments with no much control.”

He said ricin would be the simplest poison to use and shared instructions on how to mix lethal doses of poison.

It’s unclear from court documents how far Mr. Chkhikvishvili had taken his plans.

Investigators said he messaged the undercover FBI operative just before New Year’s Eve and indicated the plot could be delayed until January.

In January, he asked when the ricin could be tested on humans and suggested using the “Jewish community” as a target.

“Dead Jewish kids,” he wrote.

Prosecutors said the cult, which goes by initials MMC and MKY, has members in the U.S. and abroad.

Mr. Chkhikvishvili is named as a leader of the operation.

Authorities say he gave adherents a manifesto, the “Hater’s Handbook.”

“I can proudly say I’ve murdered for white race and willing to bring more of chaos in this rotten world. This book is for readers who are cruel warriors or are willing to become one and are ready to step on massive actions,” he wrote. “Our main goal is to spread flames of Lucifer and continue his mission of ethnic cleansing, great drive of purification.”

The manifesto encouraged school shootings and using children as suicide bombers. It listed an email contact that traced back to Mr. Chkhikvishvili.

He told followers that “only spilling blood of enemies” would earn them a place in his ranks.

Authorities say Mr. Chkhikvishvili bragged that he would “poison half of nyc” and “kill everyone there.” He said he killed “a jew” and was “glad I have murdered.”

Investigators traced him through social media accounts under aliases such as “human666grinder” and “projectmurder88.”

The FBI said Mr. Chkhikvishvili also communicated with Nicholas Welker, leader of the Feuerkrieg Division, another international hate group. Welker last year pleaded guilty to making death threats against a Brooklyn-based journalist who was investigating his outfit.

Welker went by the name “King of Wrath” online.

The FBI said Mr. Chkhikvishvili asked Welker how he could obtain “unmarked guns” in the U.S.

At one point, Mr. Chkhikvishvili sent Welker images of a man he said was Jewish in a hospital bed and claimed he “almost killed him today.”

Investigators said Mr. Chkhikvishvili was working as a care aide for an Orthodox Jewish family and “caring for a now-deceased family member.”

Investigators spoke with a woman who said she dated Mr. Chkhikvishvili while he visited California in 2022. The woman, who wasn’t identified in court documents, said he had threatened her.