The fellow goes to the mob for protection (8)
I believe the answer is:
covering
'protection' is the definition.
(covering is a kind of protection)
'the fellow goes to the mob' is the wordplay.
'the fellow' becomes 'cove' (British slang term**).
'goes to' says to put letters next to each other.
'the mob' becomes 'ring' ('ring' can be a synonym of 'mob').
'cove'+'ring'='COVERING'
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for covering that I've seen before include "acting as a reporter" , "Enveloping" , "shelter" , "making new version of record" , "Protecting" .)