Shubhabrata Dutta
Mark Wahlberg’s upcoming crime film will follow the life of an infamous hitman! The Cinemaholic can reveal that Elegance Bratton’s ‘By Any Means’ revolves around Gregory Scarpa, a veteran enforcer for the Colombo Mafia family.
Set in Mississippi in 1966, the movie centers on the FBI’s partnership with Gregory Scarpa, one of the most notorious Mafia hitmen in history, who works with an African-American agent to solve the murder of the civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer. The narrative explores how Scarpa, hired off-the-books by J. Edgar Hoover’s bureau, joins forces with the officer to track down those responsible for not just Dahmer’s death but the killings of other civil rights leaders as well, navigating a dangerous alliance between law enforcement, organized crime, and the fight for justice.
Born in Brooklyn on May 28, 1928, Scarpa was drawn to the Colombo crime family and reportedly joined them in the 1950s. The FBI’s history with him began on March 20, 1962, after he was arrested outside New York for an armed robbery. He remained an informant for the bureau for several years. On January 10, 1966, members of the Ku Klux Klan set fire to the house of Vernon Dahmer, the president of the Forrest County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), killing him.
Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach promised to catch the perpetrators, incorporating all the resources of the Department of Justice. Subsequently, Scarpa was pulled in for a “special assignment” after the FBI submitted a request on January 21. One of the primary suspects was Lawrence Byrd, a high-ranking member of the Klan and the owner of Byrd’s Radio & TV Service in Laurel, Mississippi. On an evening in late January, Scarpa, accompanied by an agent, picked up Byrd from his shop and took him to a military base in Mississippi swampland, where Scarpa reportedly beat the truth out of him.
Sascha Penn and Theodore Witcher wrote the original screenplay based on the true story, with revisions made by Bratton. Wahlberg will star alongside Sterling K. Brown. The project will start filming in March 2025.
Wahlberg is no stranger to playing an informant, having already portrayed Colin Sullivan, a spy in the Massachusetts State Police (MSP), in Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Departed.’ His recent works include Julian Farino’s action film ‘The Union,’ co-starring Halle Berry, and Simon Cellan Jones’ adventure drama ‘Arthur the King,’ which is based on the true story of a man and a dog who bond during an adventure race in Ecuador.
Brown is an acclaimed actor known for portraying the lawyer Christopher Darden in the FX series ‘The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story.’ He also played Randall Pearson in the NBC series ‘This Is Us.’ His popular credits include the MCU movie ‘Black Panther,’ in which he appeared as N’Jobu, Killmonger’s father and T’Chaka’s brother. He was seen as Colonel Elias Banks in the Netflix sci-fi film ‘Atlas,’ starring Jennifer Lopez.
Read More: Extraction 3 Starts Filming in Los Angeles and the Czech Republic in January
