Hillary didn't speak to Tony for years because of his indiscretions

Tony Rodham tried to score $1 million to 'facilitate' a proposed $22 million deal in Haiti by linking his name to Clinton

Hillary's brothers were wheeler dealers, just like their father, who sold drapes and owned a metallic gold Cadilllac

Trying to cash in on Hillary and Bill Clinton's power and fame is nothing new to her brothers, Anthony Dean 'Tony' Rodham and Hugh Edwin 'Hughie' Rodham.

As far back as the late '90s, Tony, 60, and 65-year-old Hughie – his father's namesake -- embarrassed the Clinton White House with a questionable deal to import Hazelnuts from the Republic of Georgia.

The latest example, revealed this week by the New York Times discloses how Tony, the youngest of the three Rodham siblings, tried to score a $1 million paycheck to 'facilitate' a proposed $22 million housing deal in Haiti by linking his name to the Clinton Foundation.

The project never came to pass.

But the brothers' wheeler-dealer ways are part of the Rodham family dynamic. As the Rodhams' cousin, Oscar Dowdy, told bestselling author Jerry Oppenheimer for his book 'State of a Union: Inside the Complex Marriage of Bill and Hillary Clinton', Hillary's brothers always wanted to be like their old man: 'They always seemed to be looking for the big score.'

Scroll down for video

On the heels of the news report claiming that Tony Rodham tried to score a $1 million paycheck to 'facilitate' a proposed $22 million housing deal in Haiti by linking his name to the Clinton Foundation, author Jerry Oppenheimer reveals that both brothers were known for trying to cash in on their sister's success. As First Lady she lent her support to brother Hugh (Hughie) Rodham in his bungled 1994 bid for the Senate in Florida

Hillary was the apple of her father Hugh's eye. Her brother Hughie, above, not so much. Both brothers resented how much she was spoiled by their father and they were anything but

Tony Rodham told Oppenheimer, 'Hillary was always Dad's princess. My father adored my sister.' Oscar Dowdy asserted that, 'Hillary was the only one in the family who really knew how to manipulate Hugh Rodham [Sr.] in order to win his affection. I grew up with Hillary. I saw how loving and attentive Uncle Hugh was to her. He wasn't that way to the boys'

Oppenheimer tells Daily Mail Online, 'When their brother-in-law and sister took command of the White House, Tony and Hughie must have thought they struck gold and oil. They clearly figured they could use Bill and Hillary's power and prestige to make a bundle for themselves.

'While they aren't the first close relatives of a President to try to cash-in, the Rodham boys together or separately seem to be the most blatant. The thing is, Tony and Hughie always got caught and, in the process, one or both made headlines, embarrassing their big sister and brother-in-law.'

Growing up in modest circumstances in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, the Rodham siblings had to contend with a gruff, bear of a father. Hugh Rodham operated a small drapery business and, according to Oppenheimer's book, 'resorted to any trick to cut a deal and make a sale.'

As cousin Oscar Dowdy asserted, 'Hugh was a wheeler-dealer, a shyster-type guy, always trying to screw somebody.' Dowdy claimed that the Rodham patriarch once told him, 'You're too f****** honest to be in business.'

Rodham also was a show-off who drove a metallic gold Cadillac.

State of a Union revealed a long-standing sibling rivalry between Hillary and her bothers because their tough-talking father always considered her his princess, while berating and putting down his sons.

Tony Rodham told Oppenheimer, 'Hillary was always Dad's princess. My father adored my sister.'

In the late 1990s there had been published accounts that Hillary. at 67 the oldest sibling, had taken guff from her father, but Tony Rodham claimed those reports were 'total bulls***. How does a father undermine his daughter's sexuality,' he asked, 'other than not wanting her to "get laid"'

Hillary's mother Dorothy Rodham adjusts her daughter's clothing as father Hugh looks on, in a New York Hotel room during the Democratic National Convention in July 1992

Oscar Dowdy asserted that, 'Hillary was the only one in the family who really knew how to manipulate Hugh Rodham [Sr.] in order to win his affection. I grew up with Hillary. I saw how loving and attentive Uncle Hugh was to her. He wasn't that way to the boys.

'Hillary knew how to get what she wanted out of [her father.] She knew the right buttons to push. She knew how to sweet-talk him. She was smart enough to know, this is how I get what I want.'

Her brothers were a different story.

Hillary was the only one in the family who really knew how to manipulate Hugh Rodham. Cousin Oscar Dowdy

'Hillary got the love and Hughie got booted – that was pretty much it,' Dowdy maintained to Oppenheimer. 'Tony got his share, too, but Hughie seemed to get more of it. I think Hughie – well, both of them – were pretty envious of the attention Hillary got.'

Still, Hugh Rodham could be tough on his daughter because he wanted her to succeed. 'She came home one day with straight As,' Tony Rodham recalled, 'and my father looked at her and said, 'It must be an easy school.'

But, added her brother, their father was 'proud as a peacock' of her.

He told Oppenheimer that his father was also frugal to the extreme. 'We didn't get tremendous luxuries because that's the way my father was. We didn't have designer clothes. We had chores to do and if you didn't do them we caught hell for it.'

But for Hillary the family boss splurged on buying her a piano that had a prominent place in the Rodham living room. Rodham family insiders told Oppenheimer, 'he spent hours watching her practice. He thought of her as the perfect child.'

Hughie sits on the steps in front of his home in Coral Gables, Fla., in 2001. Rodham was forced to repay $400,000 he collected for lobbying for two pardons granted by the former president

Tony Rodham was planning to use his fee in the Haiti deal to 'take his family to Disney World and cover his debts, including his legal bills and his long overdue federal taxes,' The Times reported

President Clinton rests on the shoulder of brother-in-law Tony Rodham as Tony's brother Hugh takes a swing on the Biltmore Golf Course in Coral Gables in 1996. Daily Mail Online was unable to find any photos of Hillary with Tony. They were on the outs for years because of his indiscretions

Years later after she became a powerhouse, Hillary recalled that her father's favorite saying was, 'You get in trouble at school, you get in trouble at home.'

Neighbors of the Rodham family recalled to the author hearing Hugh Rodham's booming voice 'reprimanding and cursing his sons'.

It was especially bad 'in the summer when everybody's windows were open,' stated neighbor Marjorie Voss. 'You could hear him shouting at the boys – not Hillary – but Hughie and Tony.'

Even Hillary's mother, Dorothy Rodham, was envious of the attention her husband gave to his only daughter.

'On Dorothy's part there was a lot of jealousy of Hillary, too, because Hillary was daddy's princess, and got his attention,' Dowdy recalled. 'Aunt Dorothy was always very, very defensive of Hughie because Hughie used to get the shaft from the old man – so it was a protective mother thing, and Hughie wanted to emulate his dad.'

According to Oppenheimer's book, Hughie Rodham was big in size like his father, had gone to Penn State like his dad, and played football like him. When he completed ten of eleven passes as quarterback, however, Hugh Rodham's reaction was, 'You should have completed the other one.'

After college Hughie Rodham joined the Peace Corps, and later was an assistant public defender. To compete politically with his sister, he ran for the U.S. Senate in Florida in 1994, but was crushed by his opponent.

'Hughie tried real hard to share the graces that Hillary had,' Oscar Dowdy observed. 'But it just wasn't there.'

Hillary with her mom and dad , Hughie and youngest brother Tony.

Even Hillary's mother Dorothy was envious of the attention her husband gave to his only daughter.'On Dorothy's part there was a lot of jealousy of Hillary, too, because Hillary was daddy's princess, and got his attention,' cousin Oscar Dowdy recalled

Tony Rodham told Oppenheimer, 'Our father was a tough guy, yes he was. He told all of us, 'It's a tough world out there and if you want to succeed you've got to be the best at what you do.' And that's what was hammered into our heads. My sister is very good at what she does because that's how she was taught.'

For a time Tony Rodham, a college dropout, worked as a repo man, a job that took him into tough neighborhoods in the Windy City, and he was thought to have gotten into a number of brawls. 'It wasn't like he did jail time, but I know he was in trouble a couple of times, probably for bopping someone,' Dowdy revealed.

Because of her brother's issues, Hillary angrily cut off contact with him for a number of months in the late 1980s, according to 'State of a Union.' Their cousin, Dowdy, decided to orchestrate a truce when the Clintons were vacationing in Florida. 'I just told Hillary, "I'm bringing Tony with me and you guys have got to quit this bulls***. You're brother and sister – you have to bury the hatchet."'

In 2010, Tony Rodham needed money and brother-in-law Bill Clinton helped him to get a $72,000-a-year job in a company owned by the Clintons longtime friend, Terry McAuliffe, who is now governor of Virginia.

But Rodham complained that $6,000-a-month in salary wasn't enough for his lifestyle. After a divorce from the daughter of California Senator Barbara Boxer, he remarried, has two children, and lives in a big home in the Washington, D.C., suburbs.

Hillary and Bill were furious when her brothers landed in hot water in September 1999 when they attempted to set up a $118 million deal to import hazelnuts from Georgia – a deal, revealed in press accounts in the former Soviet Union and here, that had reportedly been arranged through the good graces of a local political boss who had been accused of having close ties to the mob.

The Clinton White House was livid, according to Oppenheimer's book, and under pressure the brothers seemed to have backed out of the deal. But Tony Rodham later acknowledged that he was still involved in the distribution end.

The White House's icy response was: 'We do not approve.'

At the time, The Washington Post writer David Ignatius commented, 'It would be nice…if [President Clinton] kept a tighter leash on his own brothers-in-law.'

in 2001 Hughie Rodham was forced to repay nearly $400,000 he collected for lobbying for two pardons granted by the former president.

Hugh hugs his beloved daughter goodbye as Dorothy looks on before departing the White House after the 1993 Inauguration festivities. He died the following April in Little Rock after suffering a stroke

Today, with the former first lady, senator and secretary of state Hillary Clinton hoping to win the presidency next year, she now only has nice things to say about her brothers, recalling how they all worked together in their father's drapery business.

Hillary Clinton's official campaign biography prominently mentions brothers Tony and Hugh, and a spokesman for her campaign recently stated, 'She loves her family more than anything. Her brothers have always been there for her, and she will always be there for them. Each, though, have their own lives, their own jobs, their own ups and downs.'

In the latest imbroglio involving Tony Rodham and a Haitian housing deal, he was quoted in court papers obtained by The New York Times as saying, 'I deal through the Clinton Foundation. That gets me in touch with the Haitian officials…I hound my brother-in-law, because it's his fund that we're going to get money from. And he can't do it until the Haitian government does it. And he keeps telling me, 'Oh, it's going to happen tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. Well, tomorrow hasn't come yet.'

Rodham was planning to use his fee in the deal to 'take his family to Disney World and cover his debts, including his legal bills and his long overdue federal taxes,' The Times reported.

But the Clinton Foundation denied that it was involved with any housing projects in Haiti, and had only participated in a Haitian housing exposition, and noted that Rodham's project was not one of those being considered

'You'd think he'd learn by now,' Oppenheimer now tells Daily Mail Online, 'especially with Hillary hoping to be the next commander-in-chief. She's already facing old and new Clinton scandals, so the last thing she needs is her baby brother causing more issues for her.'