According to hearsay, Capone mocks African port (7)
I believe the answer is:
algiers
'port' is the definition.
(I know that Algiers is a port)
'according to hearsay capone mocks african' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'capone' could be 'al' (gangster Al Capone) and 'al' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for algiers that I've seen before include "North African port" , "NW African capital" , "N. African port" , "North African capital" , "Capital city" .)