I think when Rocco kills Roth is suppoused to mirror when Ruby killed Oswald. Both shots were at close range and both of them were disguised as newspaper reporters. And each victim was surrounded by cops/fbi guys. Only difference was that Rocco ran for it.

I know this has probably been figured out before, but I just got this idea after watching GFII last night.

Could be. I still can't figure out why Rocco would volunteer for a suicide mission.

As with many scenes and characters in these films, they mirror reality.

I think Rocco did the job because he was ordered to. Unlike Tessio, he didn't take the 'smart' option and go against the family.

I feel that in volunteering for the hit, Lampone is trying to score points against Tom, who michael had earlier chastised when he said that killing roth would be 'impossible'

I think he was trying to make points in Michaels eyes so he could be above Neri.

Some people here have seen parallels to the Kennedy assassination in that scene, given the circumstances and the time frame. However, it was partly based on real life: Meyer Lansky, on whome Roth is modeled, attempted to emigrate to Israel in the Seventies. After being turned down by the High Court, he tried South America, then was returned to the US, where he was arrested by FBI. He was not shot, but the filming of the scene in GFII is an almost exact copy of photos of Lansky's arrival at Miami.
Many people here have commented on why Rocco was sent on an apparent suicide mission, and why he accepted it. You will find a good discussion here:

http://www.gangsterbb.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=005863#000003