An accused drug lord was subjected to an illegal “extraordinary rendition” when he was forcibly deported from Mexico and sent to New York to stand trial on narcotics charges, his lawyer said yesterday.
Jimmy “Cosmo’’ Cournoyer, a French-Canadian, was hooded, choked and confronted with machine guns by Mexican authorities in Cancun who denied him entry after he arrived on a flight from Montreal earlier this year, the lawyer, John Meringolo, said in Brooklyn federal court.
“The conduct here was reprehensible,” he said.
Cournoyer, 32, is accused of running a $1 billion ring that authorities say was a major supplier of hydroponic marijuana to the city.
Prosecutor Steven Tiscione argued “that even if everything [Cournoyer] says here is true,” American courts do not have jurisdiction over actions taken by Mexican officials.