If Scarfo was still in power, and his father Chuckie was still close to the top even with his supposed demotion, I doubt Merino has the balls or backing from anyone in their right mind.

You'd also have to factor in that if Scarfo isn't in jail or UI, then neither are a substantial amount of his underlings (Narducci's, Pungitore's, Leonetti may not have flipped, and the list goes on) Those people were feared, Joey at that time was not.

IF Joey had killed Scarfo at that time, he would have went and so would anyone related to it, and maybe even his father would have went. Scarfo was very close to Bobby Manna as they did a stint in prison together and Bobby Manna was very close to Chin.

So I'm not even sure it would be considered balls if he even had the b thought to do it, just stupidity.