Things would be much different. I think there still would have been some sort of issue or conflict though because Scarfo still wanted to keep his stripes and not give up the boss seat from prison and still collect his money, call the shots from prison, etc. I think that even if things hadn't deteriorated between the Merlinos and the Scarfo's there still would have been dissension within the group led by the Young Turks because they clearly felt entitled. I think eventually they would have stopped kicking up and taking orders from Scarfo in favor of having everything for themselves. If that were to happen then it probably would have led to some sort of conflict with Scarfo Jr because he unlike Merlino and Mike Chang etc was fine with being his father's proxy and just pleasing his father Little Nicky. Then again, I could be wrong, maybe Merlino would have been kept in line by his father Chucky who was always loyal to Scarfo and Joey would have been content being Acting Underboss for his father with Scarfo Jr being his father's Acting Boss. Maybe that would have been enough money and power to satisfy the young guys along with their father'a having their ears. I think people in general (even the Scarfo guys that went to prison) were pretty much fed up with Scarfo for the most part and came to realize that while he was true gangster and played by the rules for the most part, it still wasn't a managerial style suited for a late 20th century (80s and 90s to present) borgata. Scarfo should have been born in the 20s. It's actually surprising to me that the Gotti's were able to hang on to the Gambinos for so long with all the People in that family that didn't like him and we're just silenced while John Sr was in power. Sort of a similar situation with Scarfo in that Gotti really messed that family up for the most part (some positives yes but ultimately bad for the Gambinos) and he was still able to hold onto the family for so long.