Paul Picerni, who played Eliot Ness’ right-hand man on TV’s The Untouchables for three seasons, died Thursday in a hospital in Palmdale, Calif. He was 88. Picerni portrayed Agent Lee Hobson opposite Robert Stack from 1960-63 on ABC’s The Untouchables, the gangster series set in Prohibition-era Chicago. His extensive TV work also included guest spots on such shows as Dragnet, Batman, Starsky & Hutch, Gunsmoke and Kojak, whose star, Telly Savalas, was his best friend for almost three decades. The Queens, N.Y., native also played the romantic lead in the horror classic House of Wax (1953) starring Vincent Price as part of a seven-year contract Picerni had at Warner Bros. Picerni appeared in one Euro-western 1969’s “Landraiders” as Carney and Arturo under the pseudonym H.P. Picerni.