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Michael Shapiro, 73, of West Palm Beach, Fla., was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Detroit to 18 months in prison for issuing death threats against the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Authorities charged that Shapiro left threatening voicemails at CAIR's office in Canton on three different occasions in December 2023:
• Dec. 8: “I’m going to kill you bastards. I’m going to kill you bastards.”
• Dec. 14: “I’m going to kill you motherfg bastards. Muslims! I’m going to kill you motherfs. I’m going to kill you! I’m going to kill you! I’m going to kill you!”
• Dec. 15: “You’re a violent people. Why do you come to America? Why do you come to Europe? Motherfs. You’re violent. You’re killers. You’re rapists. I’m going to kill you motherfs!”
Shapiro has a history of making threatening phone calls, as well as struggles with depression and alcohol abuse, according to court documents.
"These threats are just one piece of the defendant’s ten-year history of threatening to harm others based on animus or disagreement," the U.S. Attorney's Office wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed last week. "Despite being contacted by law enforcement over the years about his alarming calls—even having faced arrest and conviction for several—Shapiro has never been deterred, and there is no reason to believe that he will be deterred in the future."
"The CAIR staff did not know that the defendant was calling from a different state; to them, they feared that the violence Shapiro threatened could be imminent, especially given the rise of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate incidents with the escalation of violence between Israel and Palestine since October 2023," the memo said.
Cheyvoryea Gibson, head of the Detroit FBI, stated:
"Today's sentencing of Michael Shapiro highlights the severe consequences of hate-driven threats and sends a strong message to others with similar malicious intentions."
