Danny Ocean and the boys have their next big scheme all figured out.

The stars of Warner Bros. upcoming crime caper, Ocean's Thirteen—George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle—along with producer Jerry Weintruab are aiming to parlay the hype surrounding the sequel into aid for victims of the ongoing genocide in the Darfur.

The film is scheduled to hit theaters on June 8. But, to increase pressure on U.S. and international policymakers to take action to stop the mass killings, the Ocean's crew is holding a series of benefit screenings to raise funds for the International Rescue Committee, which has aided more than 2 million Sudanese refugees displaced by the conflict.

They've also set up their own organization, Not On Our Watch (notonourwatchproject.org), which will partner with the IRC to raise awareness about the atrocities that have left more than 200,000 people dead.

"All the guys have been to the Sudan this year. They saw this huge genocide and nobody doing anything about it," Weintraub tells the Associated Press. "Clooney got attention earlier, but it faded."

The producer is referring to the Oscar winner's April 2006 trip to the border area, where he met survivors in a refugee camp and recorded their stories for a documentary that aired last January. Since that visit, talk of an international force intervening to stop the genocide has failed to gain traction. So Clooney and cohorts hope to reenergize the human rights campaign to save those caught in the maelstrom before even more die.

"What we are trying to do here is bring our celebrity to raise money and bring a spotlight on Sudan again," says Weintraub. "We decided to dedicate ourselves to this. The thing I am most proud of by far is that these events will benefit a cause that is very important to me and my colleagues."

Among the events being planned is a May 24 premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, which will also double as a fundraiser for the two organizations; a June 5 North American debut in Hollywood, where Clooney and his fellow stars will leave their shoeprints in the cement outside of Graumann's Chinese Theater; and a June 6 benefit showing at the CineVegas Film Festival, where the 69-year-old Weintraub will receive the Vanguard Producer Award honoring his 50-year career.

Weintraub also said he planned to head to Darfur as well later this year to see for himself the death and destruction wrought there.

"It's not a pleasant place to go," he tells the wire service. "They don't need another tourist like me going there. I can do a lot more good here raising money. But I will go. We are all very good friends so when one does something we all get onboard."

The Steven Soderbergh-helmed flick chronicles the latest heist concocted by charming crook Danny Ocean (Clooney) and his accomplices as they even the score with a casino owner (Al Pacino) who double-crossed  them.

Of course, what good's an Ocean's adventure without a little money on the line.

To help raise even more cash for Not On Our Watch, online gambling site PokerStars is planning to hold two charity tournaments—one in Cannes on May 13 and the other in Los Angeles on May 27—to benefit Darfur victims.

The top four finishers in each game will get tickets to the premiere of Ocean's Thirteen either in Cannes or Hollywood. The top 18 finishers will also each receive a copy of the crime caper's DVD autographed by all the stars; PokerStars has pledged to match the final tally in each tournament's prize pool in the final donation.

In other Ocean's-related good-works news, construction began Thursday on the winning design in an architecture competition organized by Pitt to build eco-friendly homes in New Orleans' Katrina-devastated Lower Ninth Ward.

Workers broke ground on the first home, which is being built by Global Green USA. The environmental group teamed up with the mega-star in April 2006 to launch the contest, and Pitt donated $100,000 to the effort and an additional $100,000 to cover the prize money.

Building is expected to be completed by the second anniversary of the storm this September.