Frankie's fate as it was was pretty much worse than death for a guy like him though: Probable life in jail. No access to the booze and broads he loved ever again. In a warped sort of way, I guess giving Frankie the incentive to commit suicide was sort of giving him a pass...Because his family would be taken care of and his legacy might be somewhat intact, basically as a guy who got fucked by Roth and the Feds and then did the 'right thing' by killing himself. It's warped but I guess compared to getting a corrupt prison guard to stab him in the gut, it's a pass.