I totally don't think Sonny Franzese was a rat, but I can see Merlino's point, which is that after his son cooperated, and even wrote a book, Sonny hung out with him. As for Scarpa Jr., he was a rat, he knew all along that his father was giving info to the feds, and he not only went along with it, he did not warn anyone, plus he passed along info to Scarpa Sr. to give the feds.

Sonny Franzese having out with his son is understandable to me. Scarpa Jr. is a total rat.