Biography
John Torrko was one of the Portland workers charged with criminal syndicalism. In the winter of 1930–31, Portland, Oregon revived its criminal-syndicalism law in a wave of raids on the Communist Party and Young Communist League, prosecuting members for their political affiliation. Ben Boloff was the first tried and drew a ten-year term; a mass defense campaign won acquittals for several of the others.
The Behind the Bars directory on printed page 4 lists this prisoner under Multnomah County Jail, Portland, Oregon, with criminal syndicalism, 1930. This is an attributed historical directory entry: the year and nominal term do not establish an intake day, uninterrupted imprisonment, completed service or physical release. The substantive article on PDF page 10 separately names the Portland criminal-syndicalism and deportation defendants and attributes the raids to informer M. R. Bacon. The threatened ten years is potential exposure, not a sentence already imposed.
