Was he too villainous to put a cigarette out? (5)
I believe the answer is:
fagin
'was he too villainous to' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'a cigarette out?' is the wordplay.
'a cigarette' becomes 'fag' (synonyms).
'out?' becomes 'in' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'fag'+'in'='FAGIN'
'put' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for fagin that I've seen before include "Gang leader (Oliver Twist)" , "Gang-leader" , "Thief" , "Dickens' thief/receiver" , "Dickensian villain" .)