Manny Escuela

Type	CHARACTER
Manuel Escuela
Appears in	Grand Theft Auto IV
Voiced by	Berto Colon
Biographical information
Full name	Manuel Escuela
Also known as	Manny
Nationality	Puerto Rican-American
Date of birth	1973
Place of birth	South Bohan, Liberty City
Date of death	2008 (age 35)
Home	Liberty City
Main affiliation	Spanish Lords Mallorie Bardas Elizabeta Torres Jay Hamilton Francis McReary Niko Bellic
Vehicle(s)	Spanish Lord's Cavalcade (In Escuela of the Streets Grey Faggio (pictured in the trailer)
Businesses	Youth Center
Physical description
Gender	Male

Manuel 'Manny' Escuela (1973—2008) was a character in Grand Theft Auto IV. He was a 35 year-old Puerto Rican ex-convict who had apparently changed his ways, and wanted to clean up the streets of Bohan.

Biography

Manny Escuela was Puerto Rican who grew up in South Bohan. It is implied he was a former gangster and heroin addict, but had now changed his ways. He claimed that he owed too much to the "streets" and wanted to clean them up to settle his debt to society. However, he had also hired a cameraman, Jay Hamilton, to film his quest, leading many to believe that he was only interested in becoming famous. He operated out of the St. Mary's Recreational Center where he ran a youth outreach program and also was a dance instructor.

Manny was eventually introduced to Niko Bellic by his childhood friend Mallorie Bardas. Rather than personally clean up Bohan himself, Escuela paid Niko, who was broke, to do the dirty work for him. Niko drives around town exterminating drug dealers under the request Escuela, who arrived afterwards with a camera crew to take credit. In an attempt to make his show more believable, he meets corrupt cop Francis McReary. Francis even appears in one of Escuela's videos.

Escuela was well-known in South Bohan, but generally disliked by most characters Niko interacts with. Even Niko is beyond irritated by Escuela's antics and ridiculous claims. At one point Escuela even took credit for the creation of rap, despite his obvious lack of skill, and implies he refused to continue because of his distaste with commercialization.

Escuela's annoying habit of filming finally went too far when he attempted to film a confrontation with another "community leader" of sorts, drug empress Elizabeta Torres. Niko goes to visit Elizabeta, but Manny and Jay arrive to tell her to stop selling drugs. However, with the police closing in on her operations, she is in a paranoid, cocaine-fueled rage and executes both Manny and Jay, shooting Escuela in the eye. She then pays Niko to deliver the bodies to a black market organ dealer, the dealer states the organs will help a lot of people, Niko says "He'd been trying to help the streets his whole life... maybe he'll be actually doing it now."

LCPD Database record

Surname: Escuela

First name: Manny

Age: 35

Place of birth: South Bohan

Affiliations: Linked to the Spanish Lords

Criminal record:

• 1994 - Fraud
• 1997 - Possession Controlled Substance: Heroin

Notes:

• South Bohan based fraudster and drug dealer.
• Former member of the Spanish Lords
• Reinvented himself as a community leader and started a youth center.
• Suspected in assaults against criminals around his neighborhood.

Mission appearances

GTA IV

• Escuela of the Streets (Boss)
• Street Sweeper (Boss)
• The Puerto Rican Connection (Boss)
• Have A Heart (Killed)

Gallery

MannyEscuela-Artwork.jpg

Pre-release artwork.

Trivia

• His last name, Escuela, means "school" in Spanish.
• A mural depicting Manny can be seen in Bohan in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.
• We are led to believe Manny used to do drugs and was a criminal. He claims he "Ain't touched a drug in years" in the mission, Escuela of the Streets.
• In The Ballad of Gay Tony, Manny's inexplicable disappearance is referenced by Troy (the doorman of Hercules). He says to Luis Lopez, "They're going to make a show about me! Can you believe it! Well originally they were going to make a show about some Puerto Rican guy in Bohan but he disappeared."
• Manny shares a similar last name with Javier Escuella (with two l's) from Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar's latest game.
• Like most characters in the game, Manny will don a unique helmet when riding alongside the protagonist on a motorbike. His helmet is one of black with orange, and yellow stripes that matches his outfit.
• Manny mentions during one mission that he aspires to be "like one of them rich guys who makes computers and cures AIDS and shit", a tongue-in-cheek nod to Bill Gates and his charity through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
• One of the many charity events he runs is a "Tex-Mex" cooking class, as seen in the opening cutscene for Street Sweeper.
• Like Vlad Glebov, his police record status is "Missing".