Brutes in America strike back in revolting crime (7)
I believe the answer is:
animals
'brutes' is the definition.
('animal' can be a synonym of 'brute')
'america strike back in revolting crime' is the wordplay.
'america' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'strike back' becomes 'mal' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'revolting' is a reversal indicator.
'crime' becomes 'sin'.
'sin' backwards is 'nis'.
'mal' put inside 'nis' is 'nimals'.
'a'+'nimals'='ANIMALS'
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for animals that I've seen before include "Beastly types" , "pets maybe" , "Living things" , "Living organisms characterised by voluntary movement" , "Beasts, creatures" .)