Carcer City

"America is full of run down, broken rust-belt towns where nobody cares and anything goes. In Carcer City, nothing matters anymore and all that's left are cheap thrills. The ultimate rush is the power to grant power and take it away, for sport."

―Official Manhunt website^[1]

Carcer City is the setting of Manhunt, a non-GTA Rockstar game which features mass murderer/vigilante James Earl Cash as its protagonist. Carcer City is a decayed and crime-ridden city located in close proximity to Liberty City. It is depicted as having a dysfunctional and corrupt police force and large swaths of neglected and abandoned neighborhoods that have become overrun by violent gangs.

Being an extreme caricature of a Rust Belt city, Carcer City appears to have taken inspiration from Detroit and Flint, Michigan; Camden, New Jersey; East St. Louis with Chicago, Illinois; and Gary, Indiana. It is implied that Carcer City was a booming industrial center in its past before it became crippled by crime and depression.

References are made to Carcer City in the Grand Theft Auto series, and GTA car models are seen in the Manhunt games, confirming that Carcer City exists within the same continuity as GTA, with the events of Manhunt likely being part of the 3D Universe, as well as the HD Universe. A news segment from Grand Theft Auto III describes Carcer City as being "nearby" Liberty City, making it possible it is in Liberty State or in the same geographical location.

Geography

"Tired of all the sunshine and good weather? Looking for a real American vacation? Visit the shining jewel in a rustbelt crown - Carcer City. It's a real man's vacation. The pride of a nation is in Carcer City. It's steel, ice, and poverty. Spend a romantic evening in the beauty of the nighttime river glow of the flaming river. Watch real men who make things lose their jobs and fight on our special "Closing the Mill" guided tour. Come see what we're really made of. This is real America - drunk, proud, unemployed, and angry. Hear the eagle roar in Carcer City. This is what the heartland is all about."

―"Carcer City Vacations" radio commercial.

Although it is not specified where on the east coast it could be, due to the existence of the Shoreside Vale tunnels that lead to Carcer City, it is presumed to be near Liberty City. There is a polluted river located in the city that catches on fire, a reference to the Cuyahoga River. The terrain is mostly flat aside from surrounding hills that house the wealthier neighborhoods. Not much else is known or revealed about the environment in Carcer City.

Etymology

"Carcer" likely derives from the Latin word carcere, meaning "prison"; this is the root of terms like "incarcerate" (meaning "to imprison"), and "carceral state", a state modeled on a prison.

"Carcer" is one of the seven figures of Western Geomancy. It is the figurative outline of an enclosure or prison cell, and presumably also derives from the Latin carcere.

"Carcer" (in Latin: Carcere) was also the name of a prison in Rome in the ancient Roman empire.

Residents

James Earl Cash - The protagonist of Manhunt, he is a violent criminal and death row inmate who was given a second chance at life in order to star in a snuff film centered around his brutal slaying of Carcer's gangs. A former resident of San Andreas, he was apprehended for an unknown crime while in Carcer City and held in the deserted Darkwoods Penitentiary under the pretense of being on death row. In reality, he was hand-picked by a powerful snuff movie ring that allowed him to live as long as he took a leading role in one of their films.
Lionel Starkweather (AKA The Director) - A powerful and wealthy snuff porn director and Hollywood reject with many underground financial backers. He profited from Carcer City's decline by completely buying off its police force and government who, in turn, allowed him to transform the city into a playground for his sadistic movies and projects. Most of Carcer City's gangs appear to be on his payroll.
Geraldine - A patriotic woman who calls The Wild Traveler on WCTR. She questions why anyone would travel to other countries, mentioning how there is war, famine, depression, and pollution right on her doorstep.
Gary Schaffer - The corrupt chief of the Carcer City Police Department, who was bribed by Starkweather into letting him use multiple locations in the city as the setting of his snuff movies. He was first mentioned in a Grand Theft Auto III news report on Lips 106 as being cleared of charges of corruption, an event that occurs before the events of the Manhunt storyline.
Piggsy - A man driven insane by Lionel Starkweather who has starred in many of his snuff movies.
Joseph Johnson - A member of the Liberty City chapter of the Angels of Death.
William Hambrough - Former hedgefund manager that got caught embezzling profits.
Darksoullock - A user on Blogsnobs.org.
Ken - A man who calls in the Electron Zone on LCFR and complains about his internet connection, has downloaded pornography, and was visited by the FBI several times.
Brian Van Ginsberg
Marcel Crayon

Locations

Notable locations in Carcer City include:

Wapona Hills: A wealthy residential enclave located in the outskirts of the city, it is home to Starkweather's sprawling estate.
Carcer Zoo: A large, abandoned zoo that featured many exotic animals in its past. It became the hunting grounds of the sadistic paramilitary gang, the Wardogs.
Darkwoods Penitentiary: A massive prison complex that featured an asylum for prisoners deemed too insane for the general population. The Penitentiary has become disused and overrun by its former inmates and asylum patients.
Carcer Church: A deserted gothic church located in the East Los Albos district. It is connected to a graveyard and houses the base of operations for the satanic Innocentz gang.
Carcer City Mall: A multiple-story shopping mall that appears to be either abandoned or under construction. It is considered to be turf of the Innocentz.
Denton's City Junkyard: A massive scrapyard located in the industrial district of the city, it was taken over by a white supremacist gang. It features a magnetic crane and compactor along with many warehouses and piles of scrap metal.
Carcer Point Station: A big subway and railway station. There are many freight carriages seen here and a train depot. It is a place where Carcer City Police Department and Carcer City SWAT patrol.

Districts

Carcer City references in Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto III

In a news segment on Lips 106 (after the song "Bump to the Music" by Fatamarse) Andee reports that "Carcer City police chief Gary Schaffer was cleared of corruption charges in a controversial decision by the courts". This suggests that the CCPD police chief has been corrupt for two or more years before the events of Manhunt, presumably accepting money from Starkweather. The same news segment mentions Carcer City as being "nearby" to Liberty City.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

A few mailboxes contain letters with Carcer City return addresses.
A mattress store has a poster that reads, "Joe's Beds: The Best Mattresses in Carcer" in Little Havana. The same sign can be found in the first mission of Manhunt.
There is a store in Vice City called Ryton Aide. The same store can also be seen in Manhunt during the first scene of the game and in the opening movie. However, it cannot be entered.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

		A box of Brian's Nails.
A box of Morrice Ammunition.		A box of Brian's Nails.

In Ammu-Nation stores, ammunition used by James Earl Cash in Manhunt (like Morrice Ammunition and Brian's Nails) can be seen for sale.
A radio advertisement for Carcer City makes references to steel mills being closed and "dining in the glow of the Flaming River". Many steel mills in the Midwest closed during the early '90s, including those in Pittsburgh, PA, Philadelphia, PA, Cleveland, Ohio, and Detroit, MI. The "Flaming River" is a clear reference to the "Burning River", a period in the 1970s where the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio was so polluted that it caught fire.
There are blue propane tanks with "Carcer Gas!" printed on them.
A woman named Geraldine calls into The Wild Traveler show on WCTR, mentioning that she is from Carcer City.
When bumped into, some pedestrians say "Hey! This isn't Carcer City, okay?"
On the shores of Palomino Creek, north of Los Santos, there are several large, wooden, spool-shaped objects with the almost-indistinguishable words "Jartnuk Cable Company" and "Carcer" on them.
In Zero RC, there are action figures of the Manhunt characters James Earl Cash and Piggsy.
After witnessing Carl Johnson kill somebody, some pedestrians may say "I'm moving to Carcer City".
In the first cutscene at the airport, the arrivals board shows one flight incoming from Carcer City, though it is quite hard to see.
Pedestrians in the street can be overheard saying "I studied in Carcer City".

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

A man named Ken calls "The Electron Zone" on LCFR and states that he is "calling from Carcer City."

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

Various pedestrians claim to have previous occupations in Carcer City; some say, "I was a plumber in Carcer City!", and others say "I was a bank teller up Carcer before I retired".

Grand Theft Auto IV

While searching the police database, some of the characters listed were born in Carcer City.
Pedestrians may say "You drive like you're from Carcer City" if Niko Bellic narrowly misses them while driving. If you listen to a group of girls talking, they might say stuff like "I'm so moving to Carcer City".
"Liberty City to Carcer City" is a distance that the game can indicate in the 'Distance Traveled' statistic. It is a relatively lower level title in the overall statistic, and is listed before "Liberty City to the Capital", suggesting that Carcer City is closer to Liberty City than Washington DC to New York City.
Some pedestrians can be seen wearing Carcer City Unicorns clothing.
Blogsnobs.org user DarkSoulLock claims to live in Carcer City.
When walking in Little Italy, an Italian mobster is talking on his cell phone and he mentions that his cousin had recently flown in from Carcer City.
In The Ballad of Gay Tony, a topless, blonde haired dancer can be heard saying that he once lived in Carcer City, and that he acted in films for The Director.
While in Middle Park and surrounding areas, you can hear one of the pedestrians say "Oh shit, this is Liberty, not fucking Carcer!" when you're shooting at people.

Grand Theft Auto V

During the mission The Paleto Score, Trevor Philips decides to have everyone share their story of a first score. Michael De Santa states that he took a small franchise worth $10,000 in 1988 in the outskirts of Carcer City.
Ads for Carcer Storage can be found around the Grand Senora Desert.
There is a street called Carcer Way, which goes through Burton.

Miscellaneous

There are a few GTA vehicles seen in Carcer City in Manhunt. The Stallion makes a cameo appearance as a burnt out wreck, and the Virgo appears as a picture in Starkweather's mansion. The large police vans located throughout Manhunt, where the protagonist can pry open the back doors to find supplies, closely resemble the Boxville vans from the GTA III era games. The box trucks with lights beaming during some levels resemble the Yankee from the 3D Universe games. Hollowed-out, roofless, rusted shells of cars resembling the GTA III Idaho can be found widely around the junkyard in Manhunt, as well as being seen throughout the GTA III era. A version of the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City police cruiser except with black paint is also present.

References

↑ Manhunt website -> Info

[1] Manhunt website -> Info

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