Half-cut ranger admits anxiety, caused by criminal (8)
I believe the answer is:
gangster
'criminal' is the definition.
(I know that gangster is a type of criminal)
'half-cut ranger admits anxiety' is the wordplay.
'half cut' means to take half the letters.
'admits' means one lot of letters goes inside another (to admit is to allow in).
'anxiety' becomes 'angst' (angst is a type of anxiety).
'ranger' with half the letters taken is 'ger'.
'ger' placed around 'angst' is 'GANGSTER'.
'caused by' is the link.
(Other definitions for gangster that I've seen before include "Member of a mob like Al Capone" , "Soprano possibly" , "Crook" , "Hoodlum" , "Member of criminal mob" .)