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‘Godfather of Grass’ to remain detained in Montreal under deportation order

Feb 21, 2017 | 1:45 PM

MONTREAL — An American fugitive dubbed the “Godfather of Grass” will remain detained pending his deportation because authorities consider him a flight risk and a danger to the public.

Immigration board member Marisa Musto said in Montreal she had no clear and compelling reason to depart from a previous decision to keep John Robert Boone detained.

Boone was ordered deported in January and incarcerated until border services can carry out the removal order.

He has not yet received a date for deportation.

Boone, 73, has been on the run from U.S. authorities since 2008 and was arrested while illegally in Montreal last December.

He spent more than a decade in a U.S. federal prison after being convicted in what prosecutors called the largest domestic marijuana syndicate in American history.

Musto also denied his lawyer’s request to have the immigration board appoint Boone a designated representative who would have authority to make decisions on his behalf.

The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected version; a previous story had the wrong spelling for Musto