Not sure where you got this idea, but reading Butler's speech should make it clear the kind of connotations the word racket had in the 30's. "During those year

Not sure where you got this idea, but reading Butler's speech should make it clear the kind of connotations the word racket had in the 30's. "During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."