‘Dirty Crimes’ is Boston’s newest crime drama

Colneth Smiley Jr.

With more and more independent film projects gaining momentum, Boston is rebounding to become a movie town. After director Martin Scorsese’s success with his gangster film “The Departed,” independent producers Billy Dufresne and Louie Bello hope to follow suit with “Dirty Crimes,” their creative criminal-minded caper.

“We’ve been in production since September, and this project has grown, pulling in people through the storyline alone,” said Dufresne, who teamed up with Bello, a local singing sensation on the rise, to write “Dirty Crimes.”

“We invited everybody in Boston that wanted to be involved,” explained Dufresne. “That way the project is done as a collective effort that everyone in Boston wants to promote because they are all involved.”

Shot all around Boston and the neighboring communities of Hyde Park, Roslindale and Dedham, “Dirty Crimes” is a cat and mouse gangster story directed by urban entrepreneur Joe Politics. The project carries a cast of fifteen fresh-faced actors including Dickie Skinz, Faren Rabesa, Justin Sulame and Rob Rivera, with cameo appearances from a slew of Boston rappers like Dre Robinson, Edo-G and Smoke Bulga.

“I play a hitman that hunts Bello down and buries him in a shallow grave,” said Rivera. “I got involved in the project by accident. The producer asked me to fill in for a guy that never showed up and the character came natural to me. I take it to another level and slam dunk the scene.”

“I like working with the up-and-coming local talent,” said Skinz, who also worked on the set of Boston films such as “Gone Baby Gone” and “The Game Plan.” Skinz embraces his character as a gangster with a tough guy physique in “Dirty Crimes.” He even relates his role to living in his native neighborhood of Dorchester. “Growing up there, people came to me with problems, just like they do with my character. And the problems, they go away,” said Skinz.

Despite its fresh cast and themes of guns, gangsters, baseball caps and Boston accents, it’s R&B singer and main character Bello who calls attention to the production. Making waves in the industry as a crooner, Bello is signed with Sony, has been a finalist for two Los Angeles reality shows, “Rockstar” and ABC’s “The One,” and has been featured on the Inside Track celebrity section of the Boston Herald.

Dufresne is more the silent partner of this project, writing scripts and acting in small parts over the years. Dufresne never went to film school, but he studied the trade and picked it up through experience. “Keep at your goals and you’ll get yours. We’ve been going for 15 years and it’s finally paying off,” he said.

This is not the first time Bello and Dufresne have worked together. They did a short film, titled “Just Another Day.” However, the writers describe the “Dirty Crimes” project as a step up from their last.

“We have creative ideas to make a feature,” said Dufresne. “We started at 10 minutes for a project, worked our way up to 25, and aspire to get to a 90-minute feature film.”

Though it will only be shown in a few Boston theaters, plans for “Dirty Crimes” involve entry into several film festivals, including Toronto, Sundance, Boston and Tribeca.

“Dirty Crimes” is currently in its post-production phase, and is scheduled to premiere in December at the Dedham Community Theatre. Dufresne and Bello are looking to start their next project, a horror movie called “What Are You Afraid Of?”

“We got the script going, it’s just getting the investors now,” said Dufresne. “The media has been picking up on our work, so we hope the buzz helps us push.”

The wrap party for “Dirty Crimes” will be November 17 at Club Revolutions, located at 200 High Street, with performances by Louie Bello, Dre Robinson and Staxx. Check out louiebello.com and myspace.com/bdog2 for updates on projects, postings for actors and behind the scenes footage.