'Innocent' gangster's early years (9)

I believe the answer is:

childhood

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'early years' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'innocent gangster's' is the wordplay.
'innocent' becomes 'child' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'gangster' becomes 'hood' (I've seen this before).
'child'+'hood'='CHILDHOOD'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for childhood that I've seen before include "Time of immaturity" , "Extreme youth" , "Between infancy and adolescence" , "Minority" , "Immature state" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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