Put down from American city papers (4)
I believe the answer is:
laid
'put down' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'american city papers' is the wordplay.
'american city' becomes 'la' (abbreviation for Los Angeles).
'papers' becomes 'id' (identification papers).
'la'+'id'='LAID'
'from' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for laid that I've seen before include "Flattened by wind and rain" , "Deposited" , "Produced eggs" , "Placed horizontally on a surface" , "The clutch must be" .)