in the lobby of the office building of the house of representatives, a congressman named chiarella la guardia invited friends and fellow legislators newsreel cameramen and even perversely the capitol hill police force to watch a demonstration. here is how historian jeffrey brett describes a situation. la guardia blended two-part small tonic heretofore of interest on the two in the mix and easy to obtain at any drugstore, to one part near beer. a beer with minimal alcoholic content. this was legal under prohibition although some reports the times of the taste was something like a dish water left in the sink overnight. la guardia stood the ingredients and allow a few seconds to pass to heighten the suspense. i drank up and licked his lips. the cameras and then. a brewmaster was standing by to sample the mixture. he pressed a delicious". i think he was on la guardia's payroll. they started passing around samples. he even said that the police should try it. he had people in the crowd pass classes back to the police who were confounded about whether they should arrest this man. he was breaking the