I've always believed that the line, "Michael Corleone says hello," was aimed at Richie, the bartender, not Frankie. Richie was a civilian and he was nervous as hell ("Carmine, NO!, not here," he shouts as Carmine Rosato is about to kill the cop in Richie's place}. The cops would find Frankie dead in his place, so Richie might be under pressure to tell all. So the Rosatos fed him a line. That way, he could tell the cops, "I dunno who those guys were. But on of 'em said, 'Michael Corleone says hello' as they were stranglin' him." That'd be a perfect pointer to Michael had Frankie died as intended. And you can bet it'd get in the newspapers--another way to attack Michael's "legitimate" front.



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