Outlaw hugging a New York tree (6)
I believe the answer is:
banyan
'tree' is the definition.
(banyan is a kind of tree)
'outlaw hugging a new york' is the wordplay.
'outlaw' becomes 'ban' (banning is a kind of outlawing).
'hugging' means one lot of letters goes inside another (outside letters hug or embrace inside letters).
'new york' becomes 'ny'.
'a'+'ny'='any'
'ban' placed around 'any' is 'BANYAN'.
(Other definitions for banyan that I've seen before include "Crush underfoot" , "Any ban for an Indian tree" , "Fig tree with aerial roots" , "Fig-tree found in th bay, Nan." , "plant" .)