David Aaronson is a fictional Jewish gangster featured as the protagonist of the book The Hoods by Harry Grey, and later in the book's film adaptation, Once Upon A Time In America.David Aaronson was born in the early 1900s presumably either 1905 or 1907. He was born into poverty and squalor in a Jewish enclave in Brooklyn, New York City.David Aaronson later formed a gang with his friends Phillip Cock Eye Stein, Patrick Patsy Goldberg and a young boy named Dominic. Together they rolled drunks in a bar run by a local mobster named Bugsy that they worked for and helped in maintaining his protection racket.In 1921 David Noodles Aaronson and his gang were about to roll a drunk when Maximillian Max Bercovicz takes their chance by helping the drunk onto the back of his carridge and pretending to know him. Noodles later came across Max as he was moving into his new house. Max and Noodles size each other up and Max flaunts the pocket watch he stole from the drunk which Noodles then steals from him. A corrupt cop known as Fart Face locally requisitions the item from the two boys. Noodles then helped Max finish moving his items into his house. The two had suffered a mutual defeat and became running Aaronson's gang as partners.Noodles and Max later take a photograph of Fart Face whilst he was having sex with an underage prostitute named Peggy they then had Patsy hide it and made their intentions to black mail Fart Face apparent to him. First they had him pay for their turns with Peggy. Noodles then made his intentions to use Fart Face to cover up his gang activities and Fart Face scoffed at the idea knowing that they were operating in a neighbourhood run by Bugsy, who had a far superior criminal enterprise to them.Noodles and Max were later beaten up by Bugsy and some of his underlings for operating independently from him in his neighbourhood. Noodles and Max later met with the Capuano brothers, successful bootleggers. Noodles shows them a technique of saving their shipments of booze when the coast guard forces them to throw all cargo overboard. A package of salt is tied to the crate of booze along with a balloon like sphere containing air. The crate sunk to bottom of the river and when the salt had dissolved the crates float back to the surface, by then the coast guards had left and Aaronson's gang picked up the crates.Noodles and Max's gang saved the Capuanos shipment and received a 10% cut of the profits made from the shipment. Noodles, Max, Patsy, Cock Eye and Dominic left the Capuanos warehouse. They made their way to the trainstation were they stashed 50% of their profits in a suitcase hidden within a locker there.On there way home from the trainstation they were chased by Bugsy who opened fire on them killing Dominic, while the others disappeared into the surrounding scenary and Bugsy began to stalk the young boys eager to shoot all of the remaining gang members. Bugsy makes his move to murder Patsy and was ambushed by Noodles, who stabs him repeatedly almost disembowelling him. However, Bugsy managed to squeeze off one last round that alerted nearby police officers to the scene. Max, Patsy and Cock Eye watched helplessly as Noodles murdered Bugsy and then took on two police officers, stabbing one and then being battered unconscious by his partner.Noodles was presumably found guilty of voluntary manslaughter or murder as well as assaulting an officer. Noodles was then sent to prison.Noodles was released from prison in 1933 after serving 12 years and was picked up by Max Bercovicz. Noodles was soon working with his old gang.Max introduced Noodles to mobster Frankie Minaldi who gave him and his gang an assignment to rob a Detroit jeweller of some jewels and kill Joe from Detroit. The gang executed the job with violent ease, Noodles sodomized the woman who gave Joe from Detroit the information needed to pull off the job. They later shot Joe from Detroit and his gang in a car, as ordered to by Frankie Minaldi. Noodles personally gunned down one of Joe's henchmen who had escaped the car and fled into a factory. Show less «