Ruffians getting the Yanks out of breath? (5)

I believe the answer is:

thugs

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'ruffians' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'the yanks out of breath?' is the wordplay.
'the yanks' becomes 'tugs' (I've seen this in another clue).
'out' is an insertion indicator.
'of breath?' becomes 'h' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'tugs' enclosing 'h' is 'THUGS'.

'getting' is the link.

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(Another definition for thugs that I've seen is " Ruffians".)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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