By Any Means Release Date & True Story: 7 Things to Know
By Any Means opens in U.S. theaters on September 4, 2026. Paramount’s crime thriller stars Mark Wahlberg as real-life mobster and FBI informant Gregory Scarpa and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as a young Black FBI agent sent into 1960s Mississippi.
The movie is based on a real and controversial chapter of FBI history, but it dramatizes parts of that history. Here are the seven most important things to know before watching.
Table of Contents
- By Any Means release date
- What the movie is about
- The real Gregory Scarpa
- How much of the FBI story is true
- What the movie changes
- Cast and filmmakers
- Rating and runtime
1. When Is By Any Means Coming Out?
Paramount Pictures lists By Any Means for a wide theatrical release on September 4, 2026. That is the current official U.S. date, even though some third-party movie databases have displayed earlier September dates.
The film joins a busy month for theatrical releases. You can also see our September 2026 movie guide for more of the month’s major titles.
2. What Is By Any Means About?
The official synopsis follows a young Black FBI agent, played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who is sent to Mississippi during the civil-rights era to investigate killings targeting civil-rights leaders.
He is forced to work with Gregory Scarpa, played by Mark Wahlberg. Scarpa is presented as a notorious mafia hitman whose methods sit far outside normal law-enforcement boundaries.
For the Butter Flix movie listing, visit By Any Means.
3. Was Gregory Scarpa a Real Person?
Yes. Gregory Scarpa Sr. was a high-ranking member of New York’s Colombo crime family and also served as an FBI informant. Historical accounts connect him to FBI activity in Mississippi during investigations involving Ku Klux Klan violence.
The Mob Museum notes that Scarpa’s exact role in several famous Mississippi cases remains disputed. Some accounts credit him with using violent intimidation to obtain information, while other reporting challenges how central he was to specific breakthroughs.
4. Is By Any Means Really Based on a True Story?
The movie is inspired by real events, but it is not a documentary. Paramount explicitly markets it as based on a true story. The broad historical foundation—Scarpa’s FBI relationship and the bureau’s fight against Klan violence in Mississippi—is real.
However, reporting on the case makes clear that details surrounding Scarpa’s involvement have been debated for decades. That distinction matters when separating the movie’s thriller structure from the historical record.
5. What Does the Movie Change?
The film builds its story around Scarpa working alongside a young Black FBI agent. Coverage of the production identifies Abdul-Mateen’s character as a fictionalized or composite figure rather than a direct one-to-one portrayal of a single historical agent.
That allows the screenplay to create a central partnership through which it can explore the conflict between federal law enforcement, organized crime and racist violence in the South.
6. Who Is in the By Any Means Cast?
Mark Wahlberg plays Gregory Scarpa, while Yahya Abdul-Mateen II leads alongside him. The cast also includes Nicole Beharie, Josh Lucas, LisaGay Hamilton, LaChanze, Ethan Embry, David Strathairn and Giancarlo Esposito.
Elegance Bratton directs from a screenplay credited to Sascha Penn. Wahlberg is also among the film’s producers.
7. What Are the Rating and Runtime?
Current theatrical listings classify By Any Means as an R-rated crime, historical drama and thriller. Rotten Tomatoes lists a runtime of 1 hour 47 minutes.
The rating reflects violence, bloody images and pervasive language, which fits the movie’s subject matter and Scarpa’s violent reputation.
Final Take
By Any Means reaches theaters September 4, 2026. Its hook is the extraordinary real-world overlap between the FBI and mobster Gregory Scarpa during the civil-rights era. The historical foundation is genuine, but viewers should treat the central partnership and some case details as dramatization rather than a literal reconstruction.