9237060081?profile=originalBy Robert Sberna

For nearly 40 years, Jim Simone patrolled Cleveland's 2nd District, a drug-plagued area with one of the highest violent crime rates in the U.S. Nicknamed "Supercop," Simone generated headlines and public interest on a scale not seen since Eliot Ness searched for Cleveland's "Torso Murderer" in the 1930s.

Simone entered police work after serving in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne, where he earned two bronze stars and two purple hearts. As a cop, he never shied from danger. He was involved in numerous gun battles, and killed five people in the line of duty (all ruled justifiable). Notoriously equitable as a cop, Simone was more interested in doing the right thing than honoring the "blue code."

Badge 387 recounts the brave exploits that earned Simone hundreds of commendations. In 1983, while searching a church basement for a gunman, he was shot in the face. Despite his wounds, he managed to shoot his assailant, saving himself and two other cops. And in 2009, he plunged into a frigid river to save a woman. Simone was Cleveland's "Patrolmen of the Year" in 1980 and 2009, the only officer in the city's history to receive the award twice. 

Praise for Badge 387: The Story of Jim Simone, America's Most Decorated Cop

"The finest cop I've ever known."

--Edward Kovacic, former Cleveland Chief of Police

"This is the story to grab off the bookshelf. Once you start Badge 387, you will want to devour it. Jim Simone is a police officer like no other, and Badge 387 is a terrific human interest book, and a dramatic and compelling read."

--John Ferak, Author of Bloody Lies: A CSI Scandal in the Heartland (The Kent State University Press, 2014)

"When I first met Jim Simone many years ago, he had already experienced enough to warrant a book. He's one of the true 'supercops' out there, and his observations and values are priceless, for both now-and-future cops and the citizens they serve. Thanks to Robert Sberna for putting it together!"

--Massad Ayoob, Advisory Board member, International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association

"Author Robert Sberna takes the readers of Badge 387 to the streets of Cleveland and shows the police officer's side of the criminal justice system. He probes the everyday decisions made by the officer on the street and gives a unique perspective on those split-second decisions that officers make every day."

--C. Ellen Connally, Judge, Retired - Cleveland Municipal Court"

About the Author

Robert Sberna is a Cleveland-based journalist. He worked for daily newspapers in the Midwest as a reporter covering police and court beats. In recent years, his writing has appeared in The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Washington Examiner, Ohio Magazine, Neoconomist and here at Gangsters Inc.

He is a graduate of St. Edward High School and holds a journalism degree from Ohio University. His first book, House of Horrors:The Shocking True Story of Anthony Sowell, the Cleveland Strangler (The Kent State University Press, 2012), was Foreword Reviews 2012 INDIEFAB Book of the Year gold medal winner for True Crime.

You can visit his website at www.robertsberna.com and buy his book Badge 387 at Amazon and book stores near you.

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