Crossword Genius

City formerly administered by an American thug (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

rangoon

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'city' is the definition.
(Rangoon is an example)

'formerly administered by an american thug' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'administered' could be 'ran' (run can mean to administer or control) and 'ran' is located in the answer.
'thug' could be 'goon' (synonyms) and 'goon' is found in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for rangoon that I've seen before include "old Asian city" , "Alternative name for Yangon" , "Former name of the capital of Myanmar" , "Asian capital" , "Former capital of Burma" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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