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Frankie didn’t die in the bar because the cop walking a beat came through the front door. I believe that the other family wanted to torture Frankie with the final thought before his death that the head of his own family had turned on him.

I'll disagree with you again, although I think you're right on target with most all of your other insights.

The screenplay shows Michael saying "How did they get their hands on Pantangeli?

Hagen responds "Roth engineered it, Michael. He made Pentangeli think you hit him. Deliberately letting him get off alive. Then the New York detectives turned Frankie over to the FBI...."

It is possible that the intent was not to murder Frankie in the bar. The cop walking into the bar led to total bedlam. When you see Frankie lying on the floor, he is barely alive. He could have been seconds away from dying.

The Rossato brothers were accomplished at killing people, not almost killing people.

The other thing that makes me think that they intended to kill Frankie was that if Roth wanted to turn Frankie into a rat for the feds, sure, it would have taken Michael down, but Frankie probably knew where the other families buried their bodies. Frankie turning state’s evidence would have exposed the other families as well.

I think that the hit was set up to make it look like Michael was behind it to weaken his stake in the New York family.

I just think that when you wrap that piano wire around someone’s neck, it was to affect the ultimate goal. The conversation you reference shows that Michael was not behind the hit. I think that the cop walking into the bar had the unintended consequence of turning Frankie to state’s evidence.