See No Evil is based on the life story of a Jewish kid from the Bronx who, through his childhood defence of a bullied young boy, became a trusted friend and, later, physician to New York mafia dons, while simultaneously securing and maintaining a career as a high-flying surgeon at home among the city's chattering classes. The doctor was forced to lead a double life: a well-respected surgeon and socialite by day and hard-living mafia doctor by night. He was welcomed into a seductive underworld by his mafia connections: clubs, drugs, high-stakes gambling and, of course, beautiful women. Yet somehow he continued to pursue his profession seriously and, in time, became one of the nation's leading cardiac surgeons. Eventually, the high life came crashing down when the heads of the five mob families were prosecuted by then Attorney General Rudy Giuliani. The doctor's life and career hinged on the fate of Ralph Scopo, a man lying on his operating table awaiting heart bypass surgery. In one ear was John Gotti: 'When it's over, make sure that only one of you comes out breathing.' In the other, Giuliani and his men threatened to ruin the doctor's career if their star witness were to die. Torn between an unspoken loyalty to La Cosa Nostra and devotion to the Hippocratic Oath, the doctor had to make a decision that would indelibly mark the rest of his life.
