Jimmy Price

Jimmy Price is a major crime boss, cocaine baron and investor in the 2004 film ''Layer Cake. ''He is also the boss and supplier of the film's main character (known only as XXXX), and insists that the lion's share of proceeds from each successful sale to go to him. Though apparently one of the more reasonable figures of London's underworld, he soon begins providing the protagonist and his associates with a number of extremely questionable orders, suggesting that Jimmy might not have XXXX's best interests at heart.

He is played by Kenneth Cranham, who also plays Phillip Channard in Hellraiser II and James Reaper in Hot Fuzz.

Early Life
James Lionel Price reportedly grew up in an impoverished region of London alongside fellow criminals Eddie Temple and Albie Carter; however, where Carter joined the police force and Eddie found success in both the legitimate and criminal world, Jimmy gravitated strongly towards the underworld and made only token attempts to leave. For good measure, he was careful to remain close to his friends from the old neighborhood, eager to somehow exploit their success - Eddie later comparing Jimmy to a remora fish for this very reason.

By the late 1970s, Jimmy was part of a "kamikaze" gang led by notorious mobster Crazy Larry Flynn, alongside fellow partners in crime Gene and Morty; though most of the gang were content to get high and commit crimes in as violent a manner as possible without worrying about police attention, Jimmy disapproved of Crazy Larry's flamboyant lifestyle. He'd noticed how the usual profits from armed robbery paled in comparison to the money they could earn by dealing drugs, and yearned for the day when he could transform the chaotic stick-up mob into a proper business. One night, a fellow gang member by the name of Kilburn Jerry committed suicide in front of the entire group, apparently having been raped by Larry some time before; in desperation, Larry assigned Morty and Freddy Hurst to drive the corpse to a gravesite out of town - only for Hurst to pass out at the wheel and get the attention of the police. As a result, Morty went to jail for ten years.

Realizing that Larry was officially out of control, Jimmy convinced Gene that their leader had to go; after a brief planning session, Gene was able to sneak into the demented gangster's bedroom and assassinate him before he could even wake up. As a result, Jimmy took over the gang and all it's assets, gradually rebuilding the gang into a much more stable crime syndicate.

Thirteen Million Pounds
Eventually, Jimmy became rich and successful enough to make himself a presence in more respectable circles, thanks in part due to Eddie Temple's assistance. Among other things, he obtained membership at the exclusive Stoke Park Country Club and regularly attended golf tournaments hosted by Eddie - the latter allowed mainly because Eddie's friends found Jimmy's mannerisms "absurdly hilarious." However, Jimmy's greed had begun to eclipse his common sense: though cocaine trafficking resulted in billions of dollars a year in profit, he always wanted more to replace what he'd spent on fine living and fine clothes.

It was at one of Eddie's golf tournaments that Jimmy made the acquaintance of the Energy Minister of an unnamed African Republic, reportedly trawling the west for investors. Over the course of their meeting, the Minister and his entourage revealed that the Republic was possessed of vast untapped natural resources, including gold and diamonds, a highly-profitable venture for any investor willing to take the chance. Eddie Temple, ever the more cautious of the two crime lords, made a conservative investment of five hundred thousand pounds; however, Jimmy's avarice and vanity had gotten the better of him, and he ended up contributing thirteen million pounds to the bargain, his ego only expanding further when the Republic made him an honorary citizen - even one of the tribe - as a reward for his donation.

In the end, the deal fell apart: though the Republic was as rich in natural resources as the surveys had suggested, its government was secretly facing a major communist uprising; by time anyone in the west realized how dire the political situation was, the communists had already overtaken the mining areas and were en route to the capital, forcing the corrupt Energy Minister to flee for Zurich - taking Jimmy's money with him. Humiliated by the disaster and unwilling to admit to the depths of his own error, Jimmy accused Eddie of instigating the incident and began plotting a means of getting his money back.

Events of the Film
At the start of the film, Jimmy has made contact with a dimwitted low-scale crime boss known only as "The Duke" and discovered that he has somehow managed to obtain a parcel of over a million Ecstasy pills, likely worth several million dollars. Eager to recoup his losses from the botched investment, he agrees to set up a transaction for the pills, trusting XXXX and his associates to carry out the deal.