Leonardo DiCaprio makes corruption look good. And when he's filming for Martin Scorsese, you know that's the truth.

DiCaprio has been spotted around New York City recently, especially the financial district, and with good reason. The 37-year-old star just began filming Scorsese's new crime drama "The Wolf of Wall St."

Check out the set photos here. 

Looking like a typical financial fat cat, DiCaprio appeared dapper and clean-shaven, wearing a bulky gray double-breasted suit with what looked like some pretty busty shoulder pads beneath. In a few scenes he carried a brown paper bag and wore white socks with brown tasseled loafers, looking like a spitting image of a Wall Street trader.

The "Titanic" star also boarded a typical blue and white New York bus with the words "Wall Street" displayed on its banner.

Scorsese was on the streets filming DiCaprio, photographed looking intensely behind the camera looking intensely focused.

Filming for the flick began in New York earlier this month. It is based on a memoir by Jordan Belfort and will also feature Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, and French Academy Award winner Jean Dujardin of "The Artist" fame.

That constant over-the-shoulder looks might have something to do with his character laundering $200 million from the same folks who wanted him to back a mob-based corruption. It's somewhat familiar territory for Scorsese ("Goodfellas," "Casino," "The Departed"), but this film puts an interesting spin on it.

The film is about a 1990s New York stockbroker, Jordan Belfort - played by DiCaprio - who chooses not to take part in a fraud case involving the mob. With a script from Terrance Winter ("Boardwalk Empire") "The Wolf of Wall Street" uses the memoir of Belfort as its basis. Belfort was a major player on Wall Street - his firm served as the basis for the Vin Diesel film "The Boiler Room" - and went on to commit many of the crimes that will take place over the course of Scorsese's film.

Winters' script begins with the gravelly voice of Gene Hackman, who's just been revealed (via Business Insider) as narrating the opening minutes of the film. Heard in a "commercial" for Stratton-Oakmont -- the Wall Street firm where Belfort finds his fortune -- Hackman's voice-over accompanies a classy snapshot of the company and its employees. However, the situation immediately turns on its head, as the advertisement smash-cuts to a literal dwarf-throwing contest among Belfort and his Stratton-Oakmont employees, setting the tone for a very different glimpse at Wall Street indeed. Of course, whether the retired Hackman actually heads to a recording studio or not for this bit part remains to be seen, but it would certainly be a nice touch.

From there, the script launches through the inevitabilities of such a lifestyle, such as on-the-job education from Belfort's superior, Danny Porush (McConaughey), fast-paced affairs culminating with sex atop piles of money, cocaine snorted off spoons, and tense encounters with federal agents as financial situations stress the lines of legality.

Fans aren't the only ones hungry for "The Wolf of Wall Street." The film is apparently such a hot project that it's now reportedly at the center of at least three lawsuits.

Just days after Scorsese was sued for allegedly opting to make "Wolf" instead of another company's movie, "Wolf" producer Alexandra Milchan and production company Red Granite Pictures traded lawsuits over Milchan's involvement in the film and how much she should be paid for that, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

In the first suit, filed Friday, Milchan claims that although she spent years developing the movie, including bringing Scorsese and star Leonardo DiCaprio on board, "Wolf's" production company has reduced her role behind the scenes and refused to pay her agreed-upon compensation.

The company, Red Granite Pictures, filed its own suit Friday asking a court to declare that it owes "no obligation to Milchan"

Milchan says she reached a detailed agreement with Warner Bros. in 2007 in which she was promised $700,000 in fixed compensation and the right to produce the film. Milchan claims that when Red Granite took over "Wolf" from Warner Bros. in 2011, the new production company took on those obligations.

Milchan's lawsuit claims Red Granite initially promised to honor their obligations but "reneged" on those as it began filming the movie.

At that time, Red Granite allegedly reduced her pay to $250,000, changed her "producer" credit to "executive producer" and refused to let her access the production.

Red Granite also refused to honor the terms in which she was promised back-end compensation after the movie's released, Milchan's suit claims.

Red Granite's court filing, however, indicates that DiCaprio's Appian Way production company was actually responsible for Milchan's back-end pay.

Milchan is the daughter of well-known production executive Arnon Milchan, currently the chairman of New Regency Pictures.

"The Wolf of Wall Street" will hit theaters in 2013.