Crossword Genius

Continent of Asia has heart ripped out by organised crime (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

america

'continent of asia' is the definition.
'America' can be an answer for 'asia' (thesaurus). I am not sure about the 'continent of' bit.

'has heart ripped out by organised crime' is the wordplay.
'heart' says to take the centre.
'ripped out' becomes 'a' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'organised' indicates anagramming the letters.
The middle of 'has' is 'a'.
'crime' anagrammed gives 'meric'.
'a' after 'meric' is 'merica'.
'a'+'merica'='AMERICA'

(Other definitions for america that I've seen before include "Ira came from the continent" , "The US" , "Land of the free and home of the brave?" , "Continent named after Vespucci" , "Camera I found in the continent" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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