He had come across the novel The Hoods by the pseudonymous "Harry Grey", an autobiographical book based on the author's own experiences as a Jewish hood during Prohibition, and planned to adapt it into a film (this would eventually, seventeen years later, become his final film, Once Upon a Time in America).
Han var stødt på bogen The Hoods skrevet under pseudonymet 'Harry Grey', en selvbiografisk bog om forfatterens egne oplevelser som en jødisk dreng under forbudstiden, og havde planer om at filmatisere bogen (dette blev 17 år senere til hans sidste film Der var engang i Amerika).