Jerry is originally from Australia, but he and his family moved to Alaska. Jerry was first seen having a fistfight with Jax in his penthouse; that was their way of solving arguments. He came to Port Charles to meet his brother's soon-to-be-wife Brenda. He got involved with Bobbie Spencer Jones, and for the first time in his life he has fallen in love. Before moving to Port Charles, Jerry had never really stayed in one place for very long, but he eventually considered Port Charles to be home. He was arrested along with his brother and father, when the FBI discovered that their company had been started with drug money. They lost everything, but the Jacks' brother managed to bounce back quite well. Despite Jerry's bitterness that Jax had always been the golden child, while he had to scrape by and also protect Jax, Jax saved him from a prison sentence. Jax and Jerry eventually became very close.

At the 1999 Nurses Ball, a tape of Jerry and Bobbie making love was accidentally spliced into Emily Quartermaine's documentary (Emily had left her camera in a room at the hospital; Jerry and Bobbie had no idea the camera was there), embarrassing them in front of the entire town. Both handled the reaction very well, not too surprising considering their outcast status throughout many parts of their lives.

After Jerry nearly died in a car crash, Jerry and Bobbie planned to marry, amidst his promises that his illegal activities were behind him. Jason and Sonny were able to learn that he was laundering money for crime lord Moreno. Jax frantically tried to save his brother from arrest. Roy DiLucca, in trying to bring down Sonny, gave the FBI a series of account numbers that led them straight to Jerry. He was arrested in the middle of his wedding to Bobbie. Jerry asked Bobbie to run away with him, but she refused. Jax got him out on bail and Sonny managed to help him skip town after a tearful good-bye to Jax on the docks. Bobbie missed the chance to say goodbye, showing up moments after his departure, but he called her later. Jerry last made his presence known by sending Bobbie a Christmas gift shortly after going on the run.

Jerry would resurface in Port Charles in January 2007, however he used the assumed name, James Craig, and he had undergone radical plastic surgery to change his appearance. As James Craig, he was a liaison between Lorenzo Alcazar and a criminal cartel. They were in the final stages of conducting a business transaction worth a substantial fortune when things went terribly wrong.

Lorenzo had several pans in the fire and one of them was to kill Sonny. In a bold move, Lorenzo walked into Sonny's office intending to shoot him. Carly's unexpected arrival gave Sonny the time he needed to draw his own gun. Lorenzo was shot in the head and nearly died. When he woke up he initially had amnesia putting his lover, Skye in a very delicate position. James Craig needed answers starting with where Lorenzo had put a briefcase containing the merchandise that was being moved. Skye tried to handle the arms deal for Lorenzo but she was out of her element. It wasn't long before James figured out that Lorenzo had hidden the briefcase in the Metro Court Hotel safe with its state of the art security system. When Lorenzo collapsed from complications of the shooting and surgery, James Craig decided to take action.

With masked gunmen, James Craig stormed the Metro Court Hotel on the eve of a hospital gala. The plan was to get in, get the briefcase and get out. Their plans hit a snag when new employee, Sam McCall hit the silent alarm locking one of the hostages, Maxie Jones, and gunmen inside the vault along with the briefcase. James was livid when he learned that the vault was on a time lock and that it would be hours before it would re-open. Robin Scorpio became the first to be used as an example. James shot her in cold blood, critically injuring her and later forcing Emily, Carly and Liz to operate to save her life. As James and his armed gunmen spent the hours terrorizing and abusing the hostages, the police were preparing to storm the hotel. At one point, Emily was made to choose between her best friend Liz, who appeared to be in labor, and her father, who had suffered a series of heart attacks. Alan was eventually released but it would be too late. The damage to his heart was extensive and he died shortly after the hostage crisis came to an explosive end.

After the hotel explosion, James managed to get his hands on the briefcase and escape. He turned up a short time later, this time at Wyndemere. He injected Nikolas with a deadly substance and told him that he would need an antidote every 24 hours or he would die a very painful death. To prove his point, he let Nikolas nearly die before giving him his first dose of life saving serum. In exchange for the daily doses of serum and eventually the antidote, Jerry demanded that Nikolas use his vast financial resources to get him a new identity and enough money to start a new life. Nikolas had no choice to comply but he, Robin, Patrick and Emily worked together to try to find a cure themselves. As he waited for Nikolas to meet his demands, James occupied himself with following Jax and getting to know Alexis. Eventually Robin and Patrick would figure out a cure and give it to Nikolas. By this time the truth about who James really was came out. Everyone was shocked that he was actually Jerry Jacks but none more than his own brother and mother. They were forced to accept that Jerry had done the unimaginable. He'd terrorized innocent people and was now using Emily to secure his place in Port Charles.

While Jerry was blackmailing Nikolas he had forced Emily to help him with a bank matter. Emily had reluctantly agreed and became an accomplice in an international criminal financial transaction. Everyone who could verify that Jerry Jax and James Craig were one and the same person, were forced to lie to the police in order to protect Emily. Nikolas vowed that no matter what it took, one day he would make Jerry pay for the things that he had done. Most treated Jerry like the piranha he was except for Jax. Jax loved his brother and was certain that there was a reason why he had been driven to do the horrible things he had done. Carly knew better but couldn't convince Jax. Things went from bad to worse when Jerry once again dropped out of sight and Jax started getting strange calls. Convinced that Jerry was in trouble, Jax went to look for his brother. Carly was devastated. They had just gotten married and she was tired of Jax taking off for long periods of time to save his brother from disasters of his own making. Jax insisted that he loved his wife and family but left anyway. Shortly after Jax left, Jerry resurfaced. Carly realized that it had all been a ruse by Jerry and confronted him about it. He didn't deny it. He intended to keep Jax out of town while he got to know his knew sister in-law and was convinced that she was worthy of his brother. What Jerry didn't realize is that an old flame of his, Irina, had returned from the dead and kidnapped Jax. She wanted to use Jax to punish Jerry for betraying her.

Years earlier, Irina and Jerry had been lovers and were working together when Jerry was captured. Irina was too and she was brought into his cell. He was given a choice, he dies or Irina dies. Jerry chose to live and Irina was murdered before his eyes. Or so Jerry thought. It turns out that Irina was also given a choice and she opted to work with her captors and stage the "execution". Irina couldn't believe that Jerry, who claimed to love her, had chosen to let her die and she wanted Jerry to suffer. Her plan was to kill Jax before Jerry's eyes. While she waited for her plan to come to fruition, Irina amused herself by forcing Jax to have sex with her. What Irina didn't know, was that Jerry had spent years regretting what had happened in that cell. He had loved Irina deeply and that event had turned him into James Craig, a man who loved no one and nothing. When Jerry learned that Irina had Jax, his love for her died. Rescuing Jax became his only focus. When the opportunity presented itself, Jerry killed Irina in cold blood, put her in a body bag and dumped her remains in the middle of the ocean. Jax saw James Craig for the first time and was disgusted. He told Jerry that he never wanted anything to do with him again and returned to Port Charles with Carly. Jerry returned as well.

Upon his return to Port Charles, he began to heavily pursue a relationship with his former sister-in-law, Alexis Davis. He escorted her to the infamous black and white ball, where he and his brother saved her by bringing her to GH. They continued their casual flirtation for many months after that.

While he was pursuing Alexis, he was also involved in many shady dealings. He masqueraded as Mr. Moreau, a member of the mob. Moreau, however, turned out to really be Ian Devlin, a new doctor at General Hospital. Ian was the man who had changed Jerry's face many years ago. Ian and Claudia hatched a plan to kill Sonny, but Ian ended up shooting Michael instead. Jerry rushed to stop the shooting, but was too late, as Michael already had a gunshot wound to the head.

Months later, Alexis informed Jerry that Anthony Zacharra had made a threat on the life of her daughter, Kristina. Jerry promised Alexis that he would take care of it, and the two of them made love. Jerry later threatened Johnny Zacchara's life should something happen to Alexis or her family.

As Jerry continued his pursuit of Alexis, her daughter Sam continued her investigation into his role in a counterfeit prescription drug ring. Sam lured Jerry to her hot tub in hopes of seducing a confession out of him. Instead, Jerry turned the tables on Sam and planted drugs at her place. He also arranged for Alexis to walk in on them and he accused Sam of trying to seduce him into helping her move drugs. Sam was later cleared of the charges and sneaked on board of Jerry's freighter in hopes to find proof of his connection to the drugs. Jason arrived to rescue Sam and the boat exploded with Jerry still on board.

Jerry disappeared after the boat explosion but he remained in contact with Claudia via messages recorded on DVD's that he had hidden around Sonny's house. He tormented Claudia with the DVD's and recommended that she find the discs before Sonny since her involvement in Michael's shooting was revealed on them. Jerry also made contact with Jax through a DVD and apologized for his role in what had happened to Jax's step-son Michael.

Eventually, Michael responded to a medical treatment and emerged from his coma but he did not stay in town for long. Michael and his sister Kristina left Port Charles shortly after Claudia was involved in a car accident that caused her to lose her unborn child. Claudia contacted Jerry and hired him to bring Michael to her since she believed that Michael had been behind the wheel of a car. Jerry tracked Michael and his sister Kristina to Mexico and made contact with them. Claudia retracted her request to Jerry after she learned that Michael was not responsible for her accident and that Jason and Sam were on their way to retrieve the teens.

Jerry had already found Michael and Kristina but instead of aborting the plan, he lurked nearby to make his move on Jason. The two men engaged in a fight inside of a church and Jerry left Jason for dead after the building collapsed on him. Jerry made his way out of the ruins but left Jason trapped and shot him to make sure he would not survive. Jerry disappeared again unaware that Sam had rescued Jason and he had survived.

In 2010, a mysterious European crime lord named the Balkan was after Jax's former wife Brenda Barrett. The Balkan blamed Brenda for the death of his son Aleksander and the police tried to lure the Balkan out of hiding by releasing Aleksander's body. Many people, including Jax, wondered if Jerry was the Balkan and their theory seemed to be confirmed after Jerry showed up and signed for the body. The police were ready to apprehend Jerry but he knew he was headed into a police set-up and he evaded the police. After Jerry's escape, he made contact with his boss, the Balkan, and received his next orders.

The Balkan instructed Jerry to meet with one of his associates named Siobhan McKenna. During their meeting, Jerry threatened Siobhan's life even though the Balkan wanted her kept alive. Jerry tried to extort money out of the Balkan to ensure Siobhan's safety but the Balkan arranged for Jerry to be shot and dumped into the harbor. Jerry was presumed dead although his body was not found.

Jerry reappeared in Port Charles in the summer of 2012 when he was revealed to be working with Dr. Ewen Keenan. The men had conspired to cause an explosion in a hospital lab and Robin Scorpio-Drake had been presumed-dead after being trapped inside. Robin was actually alive but Jerry and Ewen kept her sedated and away from her family. Jerry visited Ewen to make sure Robin's recent transfer from Ferncliff to Switzerland had gone smoothly. After Ewen confirmed that it had, Jerry warned Ewen not to reveal their alliance to anyone and said that he would keep watch over Ewen's new relationship with Elizabeth Webber.

The next task Jerry had for Ewen involved Jax's daughter Josslyn. Jerry sent Ewen to kidnap Josslyn from her home and bring her to him. While Ewen set out to take the young girl, Jerry summoned Alexis to Wyndemere. While she was there, he chloroformed her and injected her with a mysterious chemical and when Josslyn arrived he gave her the same injection. Alexis and Josslyn each returned home without a memory of what had happened to them. Afterward Alexis and Josslyn were hospitalized with high fevers that did not respond to any medical treatments yet they both recovered.

While the loved ones of Alexis and Josslyn searched for clues to their strange illness Jerry reconnected with a former associate of his named Joe Scully, Jr. Joe Jr. had supplied Jerry with the manpower he had used to rob the Metro Court and Jerry needed personnel once again. The men worked out a deal in which Joe Jr.'s legal troubles disappeared and Jerry would receive the extra hands he needed for his latest job. Joe Jr. inquired about the work and Jerry explained that he planned to release a deadly toxin into the water supply and that only his niece and Alexis were guaranteed to be spared because they had received inoculations against the toxin.

After Joe Jr. had his instructions Jerry met with Todd Manning and purchased a local cable channel. Jerry appeared on television and delivered a special message to the citizens of Port Charles. He broadcasted that he had poisoned the town's water supply with a deadly toxin and warned that anyone that had contact with the water had been exposed. Jerry went on to explain that only Alexis and Josslyn would be spared since they had been inoculated against the toxin. Jerry also mentioned that a counteragent existed and would be available for a price but Jason and Lieutenant John McBain cut off his message. The men questioned Jerry about the counteragent but he refused to reveal its location.

Jax showed up as well and Jerry stated that he never intended for his younger brother to be inflicted with the toxin and he wondered how Jax had evaded the detainment he had arranged for him in Shanghai. Jax implored his brother to give up his plan but Jerry refused. After Jerry was taken in to police custody, Todd paid him a visit and learned that Jerry wanted a specific amount of money which referenced the set of cards known as the Dead Man's Hand.

Once Jax heard Jerry's reference to the set of cards which had meant so much to their father, Jax paid his brother a visit. He accused Jerry of abandoning their father John Jacks after he had lost the cards along with his will to live. Jerry surprised Jax by revealing that he had visited their father and witnessed his murder. Their father's physician, Dr. Ewen Keenan had murdered John as an act of revenge since John had stolen the cards from Ewen's family. Jerry went on to explain that he allowed Ewen to get away with murder but in return forced Ewen to work for him. Jax was shocked by his brother's confession and insisted that they could have worked together to bring the cards back to John. Jerry admitted that it would have been pointless since he was the one that had stolen the cards in the first place.

Jerry pushed Jax to his limit and he responded by disarming a police officer and he freed Jerry from his cell and held him at gunpoint. Jax demanded that Jerry take him to the counteragent but Joe Scully, Jr. arrived and attacked Jax. In the scuffle, Jerry and Joe Jr. managed to escape. Jerry headed to Ewen's farmhouse and he retrieved the counteragent. While he was there, he received a call from Todd notifying him that he was ready to exchange the money for the counteragent. They set up a location to make the exchange. On the way, Jerry kidnapped Alexis and announced that she would be going with him when he left town.

With Alexis in tow, Jerry showed up at the marina to exchange the counteragent for his payment. Todd was present, along with Carly, Jax, Sonny, and Johnny since they had also contributed money to purchase the counteragent. Jerry's men were in place and quickly disarmed everyone. The money was transferred to Jerry and he turned over the cure and took off with Alexis. He took her to a boat and explained that he had rigged a bomb inside the briefcase which contained the counteragent. While Jerry was out of sight, Shawn boarded the boat and rescued Alexis.

Jerry made the final preparations to leave the marina but he was confronted by Jax. While the men spoke Jerry broke out in a coughing fit and Jax incorrectly assumed that Jerry had also been exposed to the toxin. Instead Jerry revealed that although he had survived the gunshot from the Balkan's assassin and the subsequent fall into the harbor he suffered from radiation poisoning because the bullet had been laced with plutonium. There was a cure for his illness but it came at a high price and he planned to use the money from the sale of the counteragent to pay it.

After the confession Jerry pulled a gun on his brother but Sonny arrived and fired shots at Jerry while Jax took cover. The men exchanged gunfire until a bullet Jerry had fired hit a barrel of gas and caused an explosion. Both Sonny and Jax survived but there was no sign of Jerry and he was presumed dead.

In December of 2012, Jerry was revealed to be alive after his associate, Cesar Faison, was taken into police custody. Cesar's captive, Robin Scorpio-Drake, was delivered to Jerry after Robin's parents infiltrated the facility in which Robin had been held. Jerry moved Robin to Cassadine Island in Greece and forced her to develop a cure for his polonium poisoning. In return, Jerry promised to reunite Robin with her family after she guaranteed his survival.

As Robin closed in on the remedy, Luke Spencer arrived on Cassadine Island with his own case of polonium poisoning. Jerry decided to hold Luke captive in order to test a small amount of Robin's cure on him. However, Tracy Quartermaine sneaked onto the island to rescue Luke and she turned the tables on Jerry. He was forced to watch as Tracy gave the entire dose of the cure to Luke. Meanwhile, the poisoning continued to weaken Jerry and he ordered Robin to produce another dose immediately but Robin informed him that the creation of the antidote would take longer than Jerry had left to live.

Jerry's luck changed after Robin realized that she could extract the cure from Luke's blood. Around the same time, Jerry's associates Dr. Liesl Obrecht and Cesar Faison arrived on Cassadine Island, followed by Faison and Obrecht's daughter Britt Westbourne and Nikolas Cassadine. Anna Devane and Robert Scorpio also reached the island but Jerry captured them before they made contact with the others. Jerry allowed Robin to be escorted back to Port Charles to obtain the Polonium antidote from Luke's blood under the supervision of Faison and Obrecht. Jerry ordered them to stay with Nikolas at Wyndemere and warned Robin that the fate of her parents depended on her ability to derive the cure and stay out of sight.

As Robin continued her work on the treatment, Anna and Robert were able to turn the tables on Jerry and they brought him to Port Charles. Robert wounded him with a gunshot to the leg and restrained him in a room at the Metro Court. Jerry feared that his time was up as he grew weaker from the poisoning until Bobbie Spencer accidently discovered him. Jerry charmed Bobbie into helping him and then made her his hostage when he learned that Luke was in possession of the cure. Luke and Jerry engaged in a physical battle over the vial of the medicine until they fell off the balcony of the Metro Court. Jerry survived the fall and was quietly shuttled away into hiding by Julian and Ava Jerome.

Jerry resurfaced about a year later and claimed that he had kidnapped Luke and that Luke's blood had cured his polonium poisoning. Tracy wanted her husband back and Jerry demanded that Tracy give him shares of ELQ in return. When she complied, Jerry delivered his accomplice Larry Ashton to her instead. Jerry relied on Larry to give him inside information regarding ELQ. Meanwhile, Jerry was also revealed to be working with Helena Cassadine.