Mafia III Rackets Guide: All Districts & Max Earn

If you want to take down the Marcano Crime Family in New Bordeaux, you need to understand how Mafia III rackets work. Rackets are the criminal operations that fund every district in the city, and each one is run by its own Racket Boss. Taking over a racket doesn't just weaken Sal Marcano's empire — it hands Lincoln Clay a steady stream of cash, free supplies, and a safehouse to fall back on when a retaliation squad is hunting him down.

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• Mafia III Vargas Paintings: All 33 Locations This guide breaks down every racket in the game, including who runs it, where it's located, and its maximum earn potential. You'll also learn how recruiting informants and bosses affects your income, and how racket assignment ties into keeping your underbosses loyal. Whether you're chasing the "We're in This Together" achievement or just trying to maximize your kickback, the details below will save you hours of guesswork.

How Rackets Work in Mafia III

Every one of the nine assignable districts in New Bordeaux contains exactly two rackets. That's 18 criminal operations in total, and each one is controlled by a named Racket Boss. Before you can take over a racket, you first need to locate it — either by meeting with a Racket Contact or by interrogating a Racket Informant somewhere in the district.

The flow is consistent across the whole game:

• Talk to the Racket Contact to reveal the racket's location and the identity of its boss.
• Infiltrate the racket and either kill or recruit the boss.
• Recruit or eliminate informants tied to that racket to adjust its earning potential.
• Assign the district to one of your three underbosses after taking it over.

A quick note on terminology: the community and even some in-game text occasionally refer to rackets as "hideouts." They're the same thing — the Fandom wiki confirms both terms are used interchangeably.

What Rackets Give You Beyond Money

Once a racket is under your control, it doubles as a safehouse. That means:

• Medicine Cabinets for health items
• Weapon Lockers with a weapon and ammo, or a Tac-Vest
• Guard protection — the crew stationed there will fight and die for you if a retaliation squad shows up

This makes rackets strategically valuable well beyond their dollar value. During the mid-game, when the Marcano family starts sending hit squads, having a nearby racket to duck into can be the difference between a clean escape and a reload.

Mafia III Rackets by District: Full Table

Here's the complete breakdown of every racket in the game, drawn from documented game data. Each district's two rackets are listed with their boss, front business, and maximum earn.

A few things jump out from this data. The richest districts — French Ward, Frisco Fields, and Southdowns — each top out at $70,000 per racket, while the poorest (Delray Hollow, Pointe Verdun, and River Row) cap at $50,000. If you're optimizing purely for income, prioritize the high-value districts first.

How to Maximize Racket Earn

Taking over a racket at gunpoint is only half the job. The money it generates depends heavily on the choices you make during the takeover, and there's a clear system behind it.

Recruit Instead of Kill

When you take over a racket, you'll often be given the option to recruit the racket boss and any informants you find rather than killing them. The income difference is significant:

Killing these characters instead means you permanently lose that bonus income. Unless you have a specific reason to eliminate someone (some players prefer killing bosses tied to particularly nasty operations like the slave trade in Frisco Fields), recruiting is almost always the better financial play.

Run Trafficking Missions

Even if you recruit everyone, a racket won't reach its full earn potential on its own. You have to perform trafficking runs and deliver the shipments to the racket so its crew can sell the goods. Each delivery pushes the racket closer to its maximum earn cap.

This is one of the most commonly missed steps in the game. Players take over a district, see a modest income number, and assume that's it. In reality, the racket is sitting at partial capacity until you physically drive those shipments over.

Why Total Earn Matters

The perks you receive from your underbosses scale with their total earn. The more money flowing through the rackets you assign to a given underboss, the better the perks they unlock — things like vehicle delivery, weapon drops, and crew support. This creates a direct link between racket management and your moment-to-moment combat power.

Assigning Rackets to the Right Underboss

Here's where a lot of players get tripped up. It's not just about which districts you assign — it's about which rackets within those districts go to which underboss. According to community reports on Steam guides, mismatches between racket assignment and district assignment can cause underbosses to feel neglected.

The three underbosses and their preferred districts break down like this:

The Two-District Minimum

Community testing and the widely shared "Keeping All Underbosses Alive" guide both point to the same rule: give each underboss a minimum of two districts. Fall below that threshold and the neglected underboss may turn against you, costing you their perks — or worse, forcing you to put them down.

If you're chasing the "We're in This Together" achievement, the safest approach is:

• Assign at least two districts to each underboss
• Do not reassign a district to someone else during the sit-down meeting
• Match rackets within a district to the same underboss who gets the district

One community commenter on the Steam guide made this point bluntly: it's not the district assignment alone that matters, it's assigning the rackets inside those districts to the same person. Keep those aligned and you'll avoid negative outcomes.

A Note on Player Preference

There's a running debate in the community about which underboss is most valuable. A common sentiment is that Vito and Burke offer the most practical perks — Vito provides protection, Burke provides cars — while Cassandra's voodoo-themed support is seen as less useful by some players. That said, this is purely player opinion, and Cassandra's crew bonuses have their own fans. There's no objective "correct" answer here, so pick based on how you like to play.

Which Districts Should You Take First?

If you're planning your campaign efficiently, the order in which you liberate districts matters. Here's a practical priority list based on earn potential and perk value.

High Priority (Take These Early)

• French Ward — $70,000 per racket, two rackets, and the highest combined earn in the game
• Southdowns — another $70,000 district with gambling and black market income
• Frisco Fields — $70,000 per racket, though the subject matter (slave trade and PCP) may push some players to kill rather than recruit

Medium Priority

• Barclay Mills, Downtown, and Tickfaw Harbor — all cap at $60,000 per racket, making them solid mid-game targets
• Tickfaw Harbor is worth flagging because Vito reportedly has a special line about monopolizing the smuggling business when he controls it, which some players use as a signal that it's his "true" preference

Lower Priority

• Delray Hollow, Pointe Verdun, and River Row — these max out at $50,000 per racket, so they generate the least income. Take them when you need to satisfy your underboss distribution requirements rather than for pure profit

One important caveat: Bayou Fantom cannot be assigned to anyone. It's a no-man's land that the Dixie Mafia always controls to some degree, regardless of your progress. Don't waste time trying to flip it.

Tips for Racket Takeovers

A few practical pointers that make the whole process smoother:

• Scout before you strike. Interrogating informants reveals racket details, and the intel is worth the extra few minutes.
• Use stealth where possible. Many rackets can be cleared quietly, which preserves your options for recruiting rather than killing.
• Check your safehouses. After taking a racket, stop by to grab free medicine and weapons — it's free resupply you'd otherwise pay for.
• Don't ignore trafficking runs. They're the difference between a $20,000 racket and a $70,000 one.
• Watch your underboss loyalty. If someone starts complaining, you may be under-assigning their districts or rackets.

For the full official breakdown of the game and its Definitive Edition content, the Mafia III page on Steam is the authoritative reference.

Frequently Asked Questions