It is not a silly question at all. Merlino was contacted by a man who said he was Michael Franzesse's attorney, and wanted to set up a meeting. Michael Franzese himself said later that week, after Merlino reacted to the message, that the man was not his attorney, He then said the man used to work for him. I asked everyone here if they thought Frnazese may have had the man contact Merlino in order to get a response. This is silly:

Shotguntherifle:
Its a silly question that's why. How would it even be considered a set up? You don't even consider the fact that Mikey got told off and got embarrassed and did the classic 8 year olds' excuse "It wasn't even me"