In 1966 Mississippi, the FBI allegedly brought in Greg Scarpa Sr. from the Colombo crime family to work as an informant and muscle to get justice during the Civil Right Movement. This is the subject tackled by director Elegance Bratton with this week's By Any Means, starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Mark Wahlberg.
The movie pairs up Scarpa (Wahlberg) with FBI agent Wayne Strider (Abdul-Mateen II) as the unlikely duo works to bring down a group of Ku Klux Klan members after the murder of NAACP chapter president Vernon Dahmer (Giancarlo Esposito).
Wahlberg was familiar with Scarpa and his history within the mob in New York, but tackling this part of his story was brand new for the The Departed actor.
"I really didn't know about this part of Greg's
life, and I had actually read a Greg Scarpa biopic that was floating around years ago," Wahlberg said in an interview with For the Win. "But it was about his involvement with the Columbo family and the Colombo wars in and around New York City, and this was not a part of it at all. And then when I read the story, I was like, 'Oh my gosh!' Because I thought I knew a lot about Greg Scarpa, but it's just a fascinating story, and I loved Elegance's take on the movie and obviously jumped at a at a chance to be a part of it."
While Wahlberg had someone to build his character around, Abdul-Mateen II had a much tougher task. Source material from the true events indicated that a Black FBI agent was the handler for Scarpa during the 1966 investigation, but details are scarce. Therefore, Abdul-Mateen II had to rely on intelligence collected on the Black agents working at the time.
"I knew that he was going to be a guy who had a lot of pressure on him and a lot of a lot of pressure to make a decision and to possibly change from one perspective to the other," Abdul-Mateen II explained. "So I wanted to just make sure that he stood out as a strong character. You know that he had integrity and that he stood for something. So that when he made a choice, eventually, to to compromise that perspective or to shift that perspective, that it was really earned."
By Any Means is intense, but it examines an under-told true story. With a stellar supporting cast that includes Nicole Beharie, Josh Lucas, David Strathairn, Ethan Embry and LisaGay Hamilton, it's a film that is worth seeing.
By Any Means is in theaters now.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: 'By Any Means' sheds light on little known true story
