A young Quebec man who lived a playboy lifestyle — with a professional model girlfriend, an elite $2-million sports car and lavish parties — has been accused by prosecutors of masterminding a nearly $1-billion marijuana smuggling operation that supplied much of the eastern seaboard of the United States.
The escapades of Jimmy Cournoyer, 33, known by the nicknames Cosmo and Superman, came to an end when he was arrested in Mexico, accused of feeding tons of potent Canadian marijuana to the United States, in league with the Mafia, Hells Angels and a Mexican cartel.
On Mr. Cournoyer’s last day of freedom, he boarded a 6 a.m. Air Canada flight from Montreal to Cancun. He didn’t get to enjoy the charms of Mexico’s tourist hot spot, however.
Stepping off the plane about 10 a.m. on Feb. 16, 2012, he was stopped by Mexican authorities and pushed into a cell, where he was held without food, water or bedding, he claims. He asked to speak to a lawyer, to the Canadian embassy and to be sent back to Canada but was ignored, he says in court documents.
Instead, he was taken back to the airport.
