Jimmy Binns honors fallen officers

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In 1981, Police Officer Daniel Faulkner was murdered near the intersection of 13th and Locust streets. The case spiked a global debate, with the convicted Mumia Abu-Jamal — the man still currently on death row for the murder — at the center of the political-socio arguments. James “Jimmy” Binns, who later owned a restaurant on the same corner as the murder, had no idea he sat at the doorstep of so much history.

“I owned a restaurant at the corner of 13th and Locust, the southeast corner. And everyday a police officer from the 6th District, Mike Walton, used to come and drink coffee with me,” Binns, who lives at Eighth and Catharine streets, said. “One morning, he pointed out the window and he said, ‘Danny Faulkner’s head was lying right there when I came on the scene the night he was murdered.’

“I got an instant idea that something should be there. I had owned the restaurant for a year and I didn’t know he was killed there.”

Binns then took it upon himself to contact Faulkner’s widow, who had relocated to California, and offered to put a plaque commemorating the officer at the spot of his murder. In 2001, it was the 20-year anniversary of Faulkner’s death and his widow said she would attend the ceremony if Binns put up a plaque.

“She came and we had the dedication,” Binns said of his first plaque installation.

Since then, Binns, a lawyer by trade, has dedicated more than 220 plaques for fallen police officers and firefighters throughout Philadelphia and various nearby counties. The flagship program, Philadelphia Hero Cop Plaques, which he has replicated in other places, including some Shore spots, has seen plaques affixed for 96 of the approximately 285 on-record officers killed in the line of duty.

“I thought it was important and I thought it will fill a void for all the families,” Binns said of his commitment to the philanthropic effort. “The families are very moved by them and [there is] this book of all the letters I get from these family members. They are unbelievable.”

Though never in the city’s armed service, Binns has become an integral part of honoring those who serve Philadelphia, additionally coming to the rescue when the Hero Thrill Show, an annual fundraiser to raise money for the education of fallen firefighters’ children, was in jeopardy.

“They came to me in a panic and I agreed I would form my own company, Hero Thrill Show Inc., and I would produce it. I timed it to coincide with the dedication of the Rocky statue,” Binns, who plays a lawyer in “Rocky V” and Philadelphia’s boxing commissioner in “Rocky Balboa,” said. “I made a deal with Stallone that the day following the dedication of the statue he would be the grand marshal of the Hero Thrill Show. I had 13,000 attending and I built it each year to where I had 50,000 attending last year. I have a lot of people to educate. I have 11 kids in school now.”

Binns spent his early years in Northeast Philadelphia with stopovers on the Main Line and in Society Hill before settling in his current Bella Vista digs six years ago. When he was graduating from La Salle University, he wasn’t sure where life would take him.

“I thought I was too young to go to work so I took a test and I got a scholarship to Villanova Law School,” Binns, 71, said. “I graduated in ’64 and I’ve been practicing law ever since. It’s been 46 years.”

When he was still a student, Binns started fulfilling a lifelong interest when he commuted to South Philly to learn boxing at a place he still holds dear to his heart.

“That’s when I started at Passyunk Gym and learned how to box. It’s at [East] Passyunk [Avenue] and Moore Street, the building is still there but the gym isn’t,” Binns said. “That started my roots in South Philadelphia and I’ve maintained my friendships into my adult life. I went down as a college boy and I made a lot of friends.”

Enjoying his time in the ring, Binns had the chance to combine his two passions in a different competitive arena when he was appointed the Pennsylvania boxing commissioner. He would go on to have 31 consecutive legal victories for the World Boxing Association.

“I stopped boxing after a couple of years, but I maintained my interest in staying fit. I was appointed boxing commissioner by Gov. [Dick] Thornburgh and I continued in that capacity for seven years,” Binns said. “At the same time, I become the only lawyer for the World Boxing Association, headquartered down in South America. It led to me becoming a lawyer for Don King Productions and a lot of world champions.”

As a practicing attorney-at-law for nearly 50 years, Binns has a resume several pages thick. He specializes in sports, family, criminal, personal injury and complex and multi-district law, which also includes significant work representing the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers at his Center City law office. He takes pleasure in his profession, but it has importantly allowed him to do other things that mean just as much.

“I’ve enjoyed being a lawyer. It’s enabled me to become involved in a lot of philanthropic efforts, like the Hero Thrill Show, the Hero Cop and Hero Firefighter plaque programs, and the Cop Wheels program,” Binns said, the last referring to his effort to replace local motorcycles for highway patrol. “The thing that has fueled my ability to do all of that is my law practice.” SPR

Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.

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