From Japanese班長(はんちょう, hanchō, “squad leader”), from 19th c. Mandarinbānzhǎng 班長 "team leader". Probably entered English during World War II: many apocryphal stories describe American soldiers hearing Japanese prisoners-of-war refer to their lieutenants as "hanchō".
1983: Max Von Sidewinder (aka Sydow) is back to play Spectre's head honcho, only now we see his face! —net.movies, 7 Nov 1983
2001: Gulfstream makes jets for both Hollywood honchos and foreign governments like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. — Michael Moore, Stupid White Men, 2001, p.22