- "What d'you want, directions? How would I know? Can I read jungle drums? Fuckin' filth! Don't want much!"
- ―Jake Jolson
Jake Jolson is a character in The Getaway series who acts as one of the two secondary antagonists in The Getaway.
Jake is the psychotic nephew of Charlie Jolson and the heir to becoming the future boss of the Bethnal Green Mob. He is considered to be a 'psycho' and has a strong hatred of Frank Carter and Mark Hammond. Jake is responsible for shooting Frank Carter's partner, Joe Fielding, and murdering the triad Johnny Chai by beating him to death.
Early Life[]
Jake was born in 1972. He shared a close relationship with his uncle, Charlie Jolson, who took Jake under his wing and hence Jake became a wild criminal like his uncle. For most of his life, Jake has been in and out of jails. Jake became best friends with Eyebrows and Sparky. At some point, Jake started a feud with Mark Hammond, who had defected to the Collins gang who were major rivals of the Jolson's. This feud would continue for many years. Jake also has a feud with Frank Carter, as they are shown to have strong hatred for one another, with Frank obsessively trying to bring him and his uncle down.
2002[]
Early one morning, Jake was seen outside a brothel along with Sparky and Eyebrows by Frank Carter and Joe Fielding. Joe radioed for back-up and he and Frank moved in to arrest Jake. Jake shot Joe but was later arrested by SO19 officers. While in police custody, Jake was interrogated by Clive McCormack, a corrupt cop who was in Jake's uncle, Charlie Jolson's pocket. McCormack was under instructions from Charlie to lead the interview in a way that would discreetly let Frank Carter know about Jamahl's latest delivery on the Thames. This was to get rid of Frank.
Shortly afterwards, Jake was charged with the attempted murder of Joe and sent to prison on remand. Charlie phoned McCormack and asked him to make sure that Jake was broken out of the prison van and be back on the streets. McCormack believed that Jake was a psycho, but Charlie understood that although Jake had his moments, he had a good heart and he meant well. Charlie ordered Mark Hammond to break Jake out from custody. Jake remembered Mark from the old days and he still hates him for being a member of the Collins gang. Jake faked his own death by blowing up the prison van with an M79 grenade launcher, bought from Russian arms dealer Viktor Skobel, and then placing another dead body beside the van, making out as though he had been killed in the explosion. Jake then shot at Frank Carter's car with an AK47 causing him to overturn. Mark drove Jake back to the warehouse while Jake made snide comments to Mark the whole journey.
At the warehouse, Jake gave Grievous a fright with his sneaky style and nearly got into a fight with fellow heavy Big Walter when he believed the latter called him "mental". Walter reassured Jake and told him there was a welcome home present for him upstairs. This turned out to be Johnny Chai, a young Triad who was seriously wounded by Sparky who was torturing him with an electric wire. Jake and Sparky greeted each other then Jake began brutally beating Johnny, eventually killing him. After they had finished with Johnny, Jake caught Mark in Charlie's office. Jake was annoyed because he had ordered Mark to stay put. Mark insulted Jake but Jake told him to watch it as he had just been speaking to Charlie about Mark's son. Jake showed Mark Johnny's bloody body which caused Mark called Jake a maniac annoying him further. Sparky restrained Jake as they needed Mark to get rid of Johnny's corpse. Jake ordered Mark to drive Johnny to Chinatown and dump the body in the street. Jake knew that this would cause the Triads to chase Mark but he ordered Mark not to lose them. He told Mark to lure the Triads to Holywell Row where Jake and the boys would massacre them. However, this turned out to be a trap set up by Jake for Mark as Holywell Row is Yardie territory. As a result, the Triads and Yardies start a gang war which Mark had to fight his way through. Mark vowed to kill Jake.
Later, Jake along with Eyebrows and Sparky confronted Mark at the depot and demanded the money which Mark had stolen from the Yardies. Mark threw the bag at Jake which the latter thought contained the money. It turned out to be a cat. Jake ordered Sparky to kill Mark for this insult but Mark ended up killing Sparky. Jake was devastated at Sparky's death and he tried to kill Mark himself. Charlie stopped Jake and instead brought Mark along with Yasmin to the cellar of the warehouse.
As part of his plan to wipe out the other gangs, Charlie asks Jake to drive up to the depot to get the detonator for the bomb and to meet him back at the boat. Jake thought that Mark was right about his uncle being a "bloody drama queen". Unbeknownst to Jake, he had been followed to the depot by Frank Carter. At the depot, Jake retrieved the detonator and had half the Bethnal Green mob with him packing weapons to take to the Sol Vita. Once they drove off, Frank followed them. At the Sol Vita, Jake handed the detonator to Charlie.
Death[]
After handing the detonator to Charlie, Jake was confronted by Frank Carter who had followed Jake to the Sol Vita. Jake ran away from Frank and ran to the top of the ship. Frank had to chase after Jake as well as killing members of the Bethnal Green Mob on board. Frank eventually caught up with Jake on the top of the ship, where the two fought each other. Jake can be killed up on top of the ship, or, if he is still high on health, he may retreat to the lower level of the ship by standing on a platform operated by a crane, which lowers him to the deck of the ship. Frank then backtracks through the ship and confronts Jake on the lower deck of the ship at the far end. Jake is then killed by Frank. It is not possible to arrest him.
Personality[]
Jake Jolson is a very dangerous man. He is described to be a psycho by many people, both friends and enemies alike. His behaviour is extremely violent as he enjoys killing people such as shooting police officers and beating people to death with his bare hands. Jake has a hair-trigger temper as he is unpredictable and gets angry very easily. Charlie believes that although violent, Jake has a good heart and he means well. Like his uncle, Jake displays racist behaviour towards the Yardies and Triads. He refers to the Collins gang as "a bunch of miserable wankers". Jake seems to be rather unintelligent as well, not understanding what Mark means when he calls him a "Moron" or a "maggot." He also doesn't seem to grasp that Mark is being sarcastic when he refers to Jake as a "genius."
Murders Committed by Jake Jolson[]
- Johnny Chai - Killed in "Taxi for Mr Chai?" for being part of an enemy gang, the Triads.
Mission Appearances[]
- Aiding and Abetting
- Taxi for Mr Chai?
- A Cat in a Bag
- The Prodigal Son
- Aboard the Sol Vita
- The Bargain Basement
- Show some Remorse
- Escort Duty
- Meet Mark Hammond
- Showdown with Jake (killed)
Trivia[]
- Jake Jolson is Charlie Jolson's nephew and he is the only known family member who is actually seen.
- It is possible that if Charlie had died and Jake was still alive, that Jake would take over the Bethnal Green Mob and become the new leader.
- Jake is described as being crazy, mental and psycho. All of which Jake hates being called.
- Jake seems to hate Frank Carter and Mark Hammond equally.
- Jake spends very little time in prison and gets broken out within a few hours of having been arrested.
- Frank is Jake Jolson's nemesis, as they evidently have some bad history. In the cutscene of Show some Remorse, where upon learning that his nephew was taken into custody, Charlie yells "Carter! Him again!" which implies that this isn't the first time Frank has arrested Jake. Ultimately, Jake was defeated in the end and was killed by his nemesis Frank aboard the Sol Vita.
- Jake is one of only two named antagonists who can be arrested by Carter, the other being Big Walter, However this is only possible in the mission The Bargain Basement. However the player must be quick to do this otherwise an NPC SO19 officer will do it.
- It is not possible to arrest Jake in Showdown with Jake. Even if Jake is really low on health, at no point are you able to get near him and grab a hold of him. Even if you are stood next to Jake and attempt to grab him, the game will not allow you to do so. This is further backed up in the end cutscene from Aboard the Sol Vita, when Frank mentions that "We don't have to worry about psycho Jake anymore!", confirming that he killed him.
- Assuming that Jake can be arrested in this mission, ultimately he would die anyway. This is because he has to be arrested on board the Sol Vita, and seen as the ship explodes shortly afterwards, Jake would still be trapped on board the ship and unable to move. This means he would die in the explosion anyway.
- It is not possible to arrest Jake in Showdown with Jake. Even if Jake is really low on health, at no point are you able to get near him and grab a hold of him. Even if you are stood next to Jake and attempt to grab him, the game will not allow you to do so. This is further backed up in the end cutscene from Aboard the Sol Vita, when Frank mentions that "We don't have to worry about psycho Jake anymore!", confirming that he killed him.