Authorities say a man known as the "Godfather of Grass" has been arrested in Montreal after eight years on the run.

The U.S. Marshals Service says authorities sought John Robert "Johnny" Boone after they seized 2,400 marijuana plants on his Kentucky farm. The agency said he was arrested Thursday.

Montreal police said they began an investigation to locate Boone in September after being asked for help by U.S. authorities. He was found and taken into custody Thursday afternoon at the Alexis Nihon complex, a shopping centre on the corner of Ste-Catherine Street West and Atwater Avenue.

Boone, 73, spent more than a decade in federal prison after being convicted in the 1980s in what prosecutors called the "largest domestic marijuana syndicate in American history."

They said he had 29 farms in Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas and Wisconsin. The group became known as the "Cornbread Mafia," and prosecutors said Boone was the leader.

Boone is awaiting extradition to the U.S.