The way he tells it, former NSW MP Eddie Obeid's story is a feel-good testament to hard work and an honest handshake.
But numerous public officials have told a different tale during three weeks of evidence at the state's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
The watchdog is winding down its public examination of claims the one-time Labor powerbroker misused his position in parliament to advance his family's interests.
Mr Obeid has testified he didn't realise his son Paul and family friend Rocco Triulcio had a stake in a consulting firm when he helped set up a meeting for the company with then treasurer Michael Costa.
He accused ICAC heavyweights of being racist for referring to him as "the head" of his family with a say on the varied business interests of his nine children.
"This is not some wog, Lebanese, 'we all eat from the one bloody plate' (arrangement)," Mr Obeid snapped on Monday morning.
Later he told of enduring schoolyard taunts of "dago" and "wog" in rough 1950s Redfern, and of working his way up from menial to clerical work and beyond.
He agreed with a suggestion from his lawyer Stuart Littlemore QC that he stood by his handshake.
"In business ... if you don't behave honourably, they'll work you out within days," he said.
He gave evidence on Monday that he was championing "rights and equity and fairness" when he spoke to successive ministers about the injustice of requiring Circular Quay leaseholders to go through a competitive tender to keep their waterfront addresses - without mentioning that his family ran three lucrative quayside eateries, including two on government land.
And he puzzled over public outrage at generous water allocations attached to his family's coal-rich NSW farm, telling ICAC assistant commissioner Anthony Whealy QC that these licences were calculated the same way as everyone else's.
During their stints before the ICAC, former Labor ministers Mr Costa, Carl Scully, Eric Roozendaal and Joe Tripodi said Mr Obeid spoke to them about the Circular Quay leases, but denied knowing his family had a stake.
Footage played at the ICAC allegedly shows $31,300 - or five day's takings from the three Obeid restaurants - stashed in a brown paper bag in the family safe.
Mr Obeid told the inquiry on Monday that his wife, Judy, regularly received $1000 payments for "housekeeping", and he sometimes delivered envelopes of cash to her but didn't receive anything himself.
He believed it was "a good idea" for his sons to hide their business interests because of negative media attention.
"One time I suggested they change their name," Mr Obeid said.
The ICAC has heard that family assets were obscured via a web of front companies and trust funds.
Mr Obeid had little idea of who owned what.
"I wouldn't know 95 per cent of the companies associated with my children's businesses," he said.
Mr Obeid has been branded corrupt following previous ICAC inquiries, but said he remained very confident about the outcome of the latest inquiry.
This despite Mr Whealy's decision to extend the scope of the Circular Quay segment back to 1995, to include allegations of a $50,000 NSW ALP donation from leaseholders following a dinner with Mr Obeid and Mr Scully.
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