For those who haven't read the Hoods, it's available as an ebook for $1 from:

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/BookDetails.asp?BookID=33250

The book has 49 chapters and is dedicated to the mob friends of Noodles, M. B. H. & S.

It starts in an East Side school classroom (7th grade) with

Cockeye (a bit simple/dumb)
Max (tall muscular & a wise guy - reading a cowboy/western paperback)
Noodles (clever & imaginative)
Patsy (tough looking)
Dominick (podgy & small - high pitched voice)

Noodles and Max imagine what it would be like if the five of them formed a gang like Jesse James but without horses. Max says: “We'll make a million bucks sticking up banks and then quit.”

Dominick asks "a million for the five of us, Max?".
Max says "Nah a million apiece".
Patsy asks “We gonna quit when we get a million?”
Max: “Yep, we'll quit and move up to the Bronx and be big shots.”

Noodles gets summoned to the Principal's office (Max offers to throw the Principal out of the window if Noodles wants). Noodles's father has been out of work for 3 months and Noodles wants to leave school and start a job. The principal recognises Noodles's potential and wants him to stay on at school.

“I think, with proper guidance, you can still develop into a good and successful citizen. I'll have a social agency look into your case and help your family, so that you can continue your schooling. Keep away from bad companions ... Why not continue and try to be a bookkeeper, possibly an accountant? Don't just go floundering through life without a definite goal. Specialized knowledge is like a sharp knife. It will help you cut your way through the entanglements of life to your goal. To success. You understand what I what I mean?”

Yeh, I knew what he meant, but I played dumb. “Yeh, I'll get myself a big knife,” I said.

The dialogue and descriptions of events are a bit lengthy but reading the book and the screenplay (see below) will clear up many of the questions that viewers of the film may have.

Summary of chapters
Warning, Spoiler:


Chapter

01 - End Of School, Max Patsy Cockeye Dominick together
modern Jesse James, robbing Schwartz Candy Store,
helping Monk, Jake Pipy Goo-Goo, Knife, Peggy & Fanny,
Momma, poverty, Max's uncle, Fat Moe,Fed Reserve Bank,
Dolores, The Professor, Mott Street
02 - Book - Boswell's Life of Johnson
03 - Peggy & Whitey - police bribery
04 - Rolling a drunk
05 - Laundry delivery job - strike breaking
06 - Drugstore heist, death of Dominick
07 - Sent to Jewish home, Cedar Knolls for 18 months
Maxi's uncle dies, Max takes over uncle's funeral business
08 - Taking contracts, forming coalition with Frank,
6 speakeasies, Noodles Bookkeeper, Opium
09 - Dream of the formation of the criminal combination
10 - Turkish Baths
11 - Diamond Heist, Betty
12 - Writing a book, Sex
13 - Nutch and the diamond switch
14 - Oscar the fence, disposing of Nutch's body,
John Doe, Federal Reserve Bank
15 - Cleaning up Peggy's whorehouse
16 - The accidental death of Andrew Moore, Himmelfarb bros
17 - A licence to print money
18 - Noodles father previously a horse thief & smuggler,
money printing machine switched, Broome St speakeasy
to Jake & Co
19 - My disastrous date with Dolores
20 - Feeling Sorry for myself
21 - Helen the singer, picking up a prostitute,
Frank & Dandy Phil
22 - Nude swimming
23 - Getting kitted out
24 - Checking out the casino (1)
25 - Checking out the casino (2), momma, brother
26 - Casino shakedown (1)
27 - Casino shakedown (2)
28 - Casino shakedown (3), 20 bullets in 3 secs
29 - Phil & Fanny
30 - Eden, Fairy Theodore, Eve
31 - Big Mike, Fitz & Jimmy at the Eden
32 - Salvy the Snake, Willie the Ape, Mr Crowning
33 - Impersonating cops, Thespus Detective Agency
34 - The seduction of Eve, rubber falsies
35 - Thespus Detective Agency (1), knockout drops
36 - Thespus Detective Agency (2)
37 - Chicago hit, Eve, taking over the Eden
38 - Our arrest, murder of Salvy, Willie & a stranger
39 - Our release, planning the next job
40 - Disposal of the body of a Supreme Court Judge
41 - Dancing with Betty, John Doe, argument with
Max re payroll heist, split
42 - 2 weeks vacation in Miami with Eve, Max now
with Betty, Combination goods hijacked, Herring's
doublecross
43 - Max wanting to pickle Herring
44 - Max becoming a megalomaniac, throne, casing the
Federal Reserve Bank
45 - Trying to contact Frank, withdrawing bank savings
46 - Momma in a coma in hospital, gave details of Max
& Co's next job to prohibition agents, momma died,
booze, opium, death of Max, Patsy & Cockeye, searching
for our cash
47 - Mendy Muscles & Trigger Mike take me to warehouse
for execution, trick them to take me to Moe's, knockout
drops
48 - Escape to Joeys in chinatown, opium
49 - Leave town


Also there are the following free downloads for those struggling with understanding parts of the film:

http://msb247.awardspace.com/docs/film.txt (dialogue - 60K)

http://msb247.awardspace.com/docs/once.rtf (screenplay - 400K)

and other useful links:

http://msb247.awardspace.com/downloads.htm