Question about Sleepers (1996)

[Thelonious001]

I watched this movie and I was curious about where the story came from. It was written by Barry Levinson and seems to me the only thing he's written that has any connection to this kind of working class story is Bugsy (I haven't seen Diner).

Does anyone know whether Levinson has ever spoken about the origin of the story? Did he grow up in this kind of neighborhood, does the story have any basis in any actual events, etc.

I ask because people who write these kind of working class stories typically their whole body of work is riddled with this kind of stuff and this seems a one off for him, so I'm curious whether it was based on his personal experiences or he got the story from somewhere or what.