He could not have succeded stanfa becasue he went down with stanfa. Piccolo was the logical choice to suceed scarfo but he didnt want it. Shotsie and tony buck were friends and had stanfa not come along shotsie culd have gotten the seat and united the famiy. He was an old school guy who was respected by the north jersey guys like scoops and sodano and the guys in philly. the merlino faction would not have gone against him.

Had tony piccolo taken over shotsie would have been top 3 no doubt about it.