Mark Wahlberg’s upcoming By Any Means movie is based on the true story of mafia hitman Greg Scarpa. Ahead of its theatrical debut on September 4, we’ve explored the historical events and figures that inspired Wahlberg’s latest crime drama.
By Any Means is directed by Elegance Bratton, with Sascha Penn writing the screenplay. Besides Wahlberg, the movie also stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Beharie, Giancarlo Esposito, Josh Lucas, David Strathairn, Ethan Embry, LisaGay Hamilton, and LaChanze.
“The film follows a young Black FBI agent who is sent into 1960s Mississippi to investigate a wave of brutal killings targeting civil rights leaders. Forced to work alongside notorious mafia hitman Greg Scarpa, he finds himself pulled into a deadly hunt where justice and vengeance begin to blur,” reads the official synopsis.
What do we know about the story behind Mark Wahlberg’s By Any Means movie?
In the film, Wahlberg plays Gregory Scarpa Sr., a known mafia hitman and a high-ranking member (caporegime/captain) of New York’s Colombo crime family. During the 1960s, Scarpa became an FBI informant who was instrumental in solving challenging KKK-related murder cases. These included finding the bodies of missing civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner, as well as assisting the FBI with their investigation into the murder of NAACP leader Vernon Dahmer. The film’s story is inspired by these Mississippi cases, with Esposito portraying Dahmer.
Since federal agents aren’t allowed to use violence to retrieve information, they reportedly enlisted Scarpa’s expertise for off-the-books missions in exchange for money. The mobster allegedly kidnapped and brutally interrogated a Klansman to obtain the necessary answers for the case. As for Abdul-Mateen, he’ll be playing a young Black FBI agent named Wayne Striker, who, unlike Scarpa, is a fictional character created solely for the movie. He’s set to accompany Wahlberg’s character throughout their missions. However, in reality, Scarpa did not have any special agent partners during his off-the-books missions, and the agency did not enlist Black field agents for the Mississippi cases at that time.
