The uncut, original version of Leone's epic saga of five friends from a rough Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn who grow up to be powerful Mob figures during Prohibition and try to keep their friendships and loyalties intact. Told, mostly in flashback, from the persepective of "Noodles" Aaronson (De Niro) as an old man looking back on a lifetime of crime, love, and death, with a sweeping and violent elegance.