Mafia III Rackets Guide: All 18 Rackets & Bosses

If you want to build a criminal empire in New Bordeaux, you need to understand how rackets work. This Mafia III rackets guide breaks down every operation, who runs it, and how much money each one can pull in once you've taken it over. Rackets are the backbone of Lincoln Clay's war against the Marcano Crime Family — they generate income, unlock perks from your underbosses, and double as safehouses where you can resupply between missions.

Related Mafia III guides you may find useful:

• Mafia III Junction Box Guide: All 92 Locations
• Mafia III Walkthrough: Full Mission Guide & Tips
• Mafia III Map Guide — All Districts & Collectibles The problem is that the game doesn't spell everything out. You can take over a district and still leave thousands of dollars on the table if you skip informants, ignore trafficking runs, or hand the wrong turf to the wrong underboss. This guide covers all of it.

How Rackets Work in Mafia III

Every district in New Bordeaux contains exactly two rackets, and each one is controlled by its own Racket Boss. To flip a racket, you first need intel. That comes from Racket Contacts and, in some cases, from interrogating Racket Informants you find while casing the district.

Once you've got the location and the boss identified, you hit the operation, deal with the boss, and the racket becomes yours. From that point forward it generates passive income — but only up to a point.

Racket Earn: Why Your Choices Matter

The money a racket produces isn't fixed. It scales based on decisions you make during the takeover:

The key takeaway: if you want maximum profit, spare the boss and recruit every informant you can find. Killing your way through a district is faster, but it's expensive in the long run. Community reports consistently show that recruiting beats killing when your goal is total earn.

Rackets Double as Safehouses

Once a racket is under your control, it becomes a safehouse. That means free supplies — Medicine Cabinets, Weapon Lockers stocked with a weapon and ammo or a Tac-Vest — and a place to hide if a retaliation squad is hunting you. The guards stationed there will fight to protect you, which makes rackets genuinely useful beyond the money they generate.

All 18 Rackets by District

Here's the complete breakdown of every racket in New Bordeaux, organized by district. Maximum earn values assume you've recruited the boss and informants and completed all trafficking runs.

Barclay Mills

Delray Hollow

Delray Hollow is Cassandra's home turf, and it's typically one of the first districts you'll take down. Note that the smack racket operates out of a church — a detail that fits the game's tone perfectly.

Downtown

French Ward

The French Ward is one of the highest-value districts in the game, with both rackets topping out at $70,000 each. That's $140,000 in total earn potential from a single district.

Frisco Fields

Pointe Verdun

River Row

Southdowns

Tickfaw Harbor

Total Earn Potential Across New Bordeaux

Adding everything up gives you a clear picture of what's at stake:

That's over a million dollars in potential racket income if you play your cards right. Miss the informants or kill the bosses, and you'll leave a significant chunk of that behind.

Assigning Rackets to Underbosses

This is where a lot of players get tripped up. Once you've taken over districts, you have to divide them among your three underbosses: Cassandra, Vito Scaletta, and Thomas Burke. Each one has districts they naturally gravitate toward, and neglecting any of them can have consequences — including losing an underboss entirely.

Based on community reports and player experience, here's the breakdown of which districts each underboss prefers:

A commonly recommended approach is to give each underboss a minimum of two districts to avoid negative outcomes. If you're chasing the "We're in This Together" achievement, you'll want to keep all three alive through the final meeting — and that means not reassigning districts once you've made your initial choices.

One important note from the community: Vito is widely considered the strongest underboss because his perk gives you access to a hit squad and additional protection. Some players argue that Vito actually prefers Tickfaw Harbor over Downtown based on his dialogue lines, though the mechanical differences are minor.

Tips for Maximizing Racket Income

• Recruit informants before confronting the boss. Each one adds $1,000–$4,000 to the racket's earn. It adds up fast across 18 rackets.
• Spare the boss when possible. Recruiting a boss adds $2,000–$5,000 and keeps the operation running smoothly.
• Don't skip trafficking runs. These are mandatory if you want to hit maximum earn. Drop shipments at the racket and let the crew sell them.
• Assign rackets and districts to the same underboss. Community members report that mismatching these can cause issues with loyalty and perk progression.
• Use rackets as resupply points. Before a big mission, swing by a safehouse racket for free health items and ammo.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

New players tend to make the same errors when they first dive into the racket system. Here are the big ones:

1. Killing every boss for speed. It feels efficient, but you're sacrificing thousands per racket.
2. Ignoring informants. These aren't optional if you want full earn — they're a direct income boost.
3. Neglecting an underboss. Give at least two districts to each one, or you risk losing them.
4. Reassigning districts at the final meeting. This can trigger a betrayal and lock you out of the "We're in This Together" achievement.
5. Forgetting about trafficking runs. A racket at 60% earn is a racket you're not fully exploiting.

Wrapping Up

Taking over all 18 rackets in Mafia III is about more than just clearing map icons. It's about making smart choices — recruiting instead of killing, running trafficking shipments, and keeping your underbosses happy. Do it right, and you'll have over a million dollars flowing into your operation, plus a network of safehouses that make the back half of the game significantly easier.

For more details on the game itself, check out the official Mafia III page on Steam, which includes the Definitive Edition with all DLC content.