If the Bullets Don't Kill You, You Die of Blood Poisoning

HijodelCid; It does not. Only if contaminates are dragged into the wound would there be any infection. This is another folk or urban myth.

I'm not sure if this really works, but that was a common belief among Mafia hit men of that era, specifically John Scalise and Albert Anselmi, who were known as the murder twins and always used that procedure, dipping their bullets in garlic. Perhaps it only resulted in smelling up their guns. They wound up being killed themselves not long after the Massacre, allegedly being bludgeoned to death as the result of beatings to the head with baseball bats by Al Capone. However one might suspect Anthony (the Big Tuna) Accardo, a main hit man for Capone, of these murders as he was known for such a technique, his other nickname being Joe Batters. After several mobsters succeeded Capone for short periods of time, it was Accardo who eventually assumed the Capone throne and stayed in power for about 50 years, dieing at age 86 of natural causes. Unlike Capone Accardo believed in the lower profile style of leadership which served him well. He even allowed Sam (MoMo)Giancana to publicly serve as family boss for a time, while he continued to hold the reins of power behind the scenes.

I read "somewhere" that the garlic made the wound burn, if the victim wasn't killed immediately he suffered greatly. Another "somewhere' said that the wounds smelled of the garlic and this was a signature that the killing was a gang related enforcement type killing.At any rate there are verified reports of bullets being rubbed with garlic by the gangs of the time and later by mafia gangs. The shooters themselves may not actually have known why, it could have just been tradition.

' Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.'-Marx

I don't know much about garlic or its effect on gunshot wounds, but I know a little about guns and bullets. Any trace amount of garlic rubbed onto the side of a bullet would be thoroughly ground off by the barrel and its rifling while being propelled through the barrel. The little bit of garlic left on the tip of the bullet might well be burned off by its flight from gun to body, or rubbed off by its spinning through the various layers of clothing it would have to spin through on its way to the victim. I'm not going to bet my life on it, but I suspect this to be the case.