That was Frankie Pantangelli, the acting head of the Corleone family in NYC. He did indeed survive and became a government witness against Michael Corleone.
He was the Clemenza-lite for Godfather II, as the actor who portrayed Clemenza in the first one made too many contractual demands for the sequel. So Coppola killed him off, and came up with this character, who is never mentioned in the original film.