In Cleveland 1922, Woodland Avenue barbers Louis Auerbach and his brother Abraham were charged with diverting almost a million dollars’ worth of alcohol from storage to the hands of bootleggers.

The Auerbachs’ front was a hair tonic company. When their “Love Me Dearie” hair tonic was discovered to be pure grain alcohol, both brothers went to prison. They were assigned to the prison barber shop.

This strip’s inspiration came from The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia: Corn Sugar and Blood by Rick Porrello. Buy it on Amazon!