Tattered rags bind criminals (8)
I believe the answer is:
brigands
'criminals' is the definition.
(brigand is a kind of criminal)
'tattered rags bind' is the wordplay.
'tattered' indicates anagramming the letters (a tattered or broken form of the letters).
'rags'+'bind'='ragsbind'
'ragsbind' is an anagram of 'BRIGANDS'.
(Other definitions for brigands that I've seen before include "Pirates on land" , "Armed thieves" , "Bandits" , "Highway robbers" .)