The man known as Paunch (real name unrevealed) was a criminal associate of Bernard Breakdown. He was a heavyset man with dark hair.
Kidnapping Diet Smith[]
Paunch participated in the kidnapping and ransom of Diet Smith, along with Gaunt. Paunch primarily functioned as the getaway driver, both at the kidnapping and the attempts to collect the ransom.
Paunch often had to help calm Breakdown when he would succumb to one of his characteristic panic attacks.
After the ransom money for Diet Smith was recovered (it had been temporarily stolen by the juvenile roller-skating purse snatcher Willie Wheeler), Paunch prepared to aid Breakdown in his plan to imprison and humiliate Dick Tracy and Smith. Before they could do so, Tracy was able to get his hands free and employ a tear gas cuff link that FBI Agent Jim Trailer had provided. Breakdown fled to the building's roof while Gaunt and Paunch tried to escape through the back exit. There, they were met and arrested by the police, including Lizz and Groovy Grove.