[1] Gould revealed little about Flattop's personal life in the comic strip, but the background references that he did give the character share similarities to real-life Depression-era gangster Pretty Boy Floyd.

[3][failed verification] Gould's character leads a gang of three hoods and is known as an "ace killer" in one newspaper headline shown in the comic strip (having committed five murders).

In the storyline in which Flattop is the featured villain, black marketeers hire him to eliminate Dick Tracy for a fee of $5,000: five times his regular rate.

[4] Flattop proves his value by quickly orchestrating a successful setup involving an argument over money to capture Tracy in the killer's car, to be transported somewhere where he can be murdered undisturbed.

Taking advantage of an available piano in the room, he plays it and stamps on the floor in code as if keeping time to his music, hoping that the WAC below, Margie Elong, will recognize the call for help.

While the police tend to Tracy, the detective suggests that it be publicly announced that he was found dead, anticipating that Flattop's employers would contact the killer soon afterward.

The black marketeers take the bait, call Flattop's number to invite him for a celebration and the police quickly arrive to arrest the lot of them.

This leads to a long chase, during which Flattop stays in a boarding house while being extorted by the crooked child, Bud Jenkins, who is hiding him.

More relief is afforded by Flintheart who, while trapped on the Santa Maria replica, claims he cannot swim since he fell into his aunt's lily pond at a tender age.