Capone had heart, graduates state (7)
I believe the answer is:
alabama
'capone had heart graduates state' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'capone had heart graduates state' is the wordplay.
'capone' becomes 'Al' (gangster Al Capone).
'had' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'heart graduates' becomes 'aba' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'state' becomes 'ma' (abbreviation for Massachusetts).
'al'+'aba'+'ma'='ALABAMA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for alabama that I've seen before include "US state on the Gulf of Mexico" , "Birmingham area" , "Source of cotton" , "US state known as the Heart of Dixie" , "US state west of Georgia" .)