Rope's dead wrong for criminal (9)
I believe the answer is:
desperado
'criminal' is the definition.
(desperado is a kind of criminal)
'rope's dead wrong' is the wordplay.
'wrong' is an anagram indicator.
'ropes'+'dead'='ropesdead'
'ropesdead' with letters rearranged gives 'DESPERADO'.
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for desperado that I've seen before include "Reckless guy" , "Road speed (anag.)" , "Reckless criminal" , "Gangster" , "reckless one" .)