Criminal thus called the shots and carried out scams (7)
I believe the answer is:
hustled
'carried out scams' is the definition.
(to hustle is to scam or con)
'criminal thus called the shots' is the wordplay.
'criminal' indicates anagramming the letters.
'called the shots' becomes 'led' (to call the shots is to lead or be in charge).
'thus' with letters rearranged gives 'hust'.
'hust'+'led'='HUSTLED'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for hustled that I've seen before include "Jostled" , "Shoved roughly" .)