Biography
John Rooney was one of four Irish Workers’ Club members arrested and beaten by police on June 22, 1932, after resisting the eviction of an Irish family from East 147th Street in the Bronx. A magistrate raised the disorderly-conduct accusation to felonious assault. The four men were released on $1,000 bail before a grand jury indicted them on June 30. When the lower-court case was dismissed on July 1, Rooney was immediately rearrested on a bench warrant and released again on $1,000 bail. He pleaded not guilty on July 11.
The June28,1932 Daily Worker prints Cooney as the fourth member of the Irish Workers Club quartet arrested after the East147thStreet eviction protest, alongside Mullally,Moriarty and McKiernan. The existing later accounts identify John Rooney in that same quartet. This surname discrepancy is retained as a printed variant within the same event, without a new person or automatic AKA. The report says all four were released on $1000 bail each and alleges jail beatings. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1932/v09-n153-jun-28-1932-DW-LOC.pdf#page=2
Printed pages 177 and 179 (PDF 19,22), Martin Moriarty's Tammany Gives Relief, describes the Bronx eviction of Mrs. McPartland and her six children, neighbors and Irish Workers Club members restoring the furniture, and police beating and arresting the four individually named club members. Initial disorderly-conduct charges became felonious assault; a Bronx grand jury indicted them while the cases were pending, and all four were out on $1,000 bail each. This supports the existing June 1932 case and identifies the eviction family; no additional arrest or exact discharge day is inferred. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1932/v08n09-sep-1932-LD.pdf
Page 3 reports that after the Bronx East 147th Street eviction protest and police beatings, the four Irish Workers' Club defendants were released on $1,000 bail, but could not obtain summonses against the officers. Magistrate Harris had raised disorderly-conduct accusations to felonious assault; subsequent hearings before the magistrate printed McKinery were postponed while a grand jury secretly indicted them and bench warrants were served. ILD attorney Allan Taub sought countercharges; assistant district attorney Sylvester Ryan refused relief. This supplies procedural detail for their existing case, not another arrest episode or a completed sentence. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1932/v09-n169-NY-jul-16-1932-DW-LOC.pdf
Labor Defender, September 1932; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, July 16, 1932; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Page 2 lists the Irish Workers Club quartet as Mallalay, McCairney, Rooney and Moriarity, and announces their July 1 Morrisania Court trial on felonious assault after the East147thStreet eviction struggle. This announcement precedes the outcome; it is not evidence of a completed July1 verdict or release.
Page 1 names the Irish WorkersClub quartet held in BronxCounty jail for felonious assault after Wednesday June22 eviction resistance on East147thStreet. It reports beatings in the patrol wagon, with Mullally especially injured. This contemporaneous custody precedes the later bail and July1 hearing; it does not establish a new conviction.
Page3 announces a June27 morning Bronx MagistratesCourt appearance and solidarity demonstration for the IrishWorkersClub quartet after Wednesday June22 eviction resistance. The announced hearing is not a completed verdict or physical release.
