“American Gangster” (9 p.m., BET) profiles and interviews Harlem, N.Y., hoodlum and heroin tycoon Frank Lucas. He’s the subject of a forthcoming film, also called “American Gangster,” starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe.

Lucas, who does not look like Denzel Washington, is seen here driving past his old haunts where the crowds of desperate customers for his heroin were so large that bus traffic had to be rerouted. Speaking in a blunt style and in an accent not always easy to understand, Lucas talks of being brutalized by the Klan and local authorities. This, he explains, drove him to crime and to see all law enforcement as a racist conspiracy. He also admits a desire to be rich. “I wanted to be Donald Trump rich,” he declares. And for a time, he was.

After moving to Harlem, he was adopted by the neighborhood’s reigning crime czar, “Bumpy” Johnson. After serving as his enforcer for 15 years, Lucas assumed control once Bumpy died.

Although illiterate and incapable of counting money, Lucas saw opportunity in others’ misfortune. Lucas claims that nightly news about drug addiction among soldiers in Vietnam gave him the idea to travel straight to Southeast Asia to buy heroin directly from the CIA-backed Chinese generals who controlled Thailand’s drug traffic.

Lucas skipped the middleman and no longer had to buy his heroin from New York’s mafia. According to “Gangster,” he smuggled the drugs out of the war zone in troop planes, in soldiers’ duffel bags and sometimes in the returning coffins of dead servicemen. Once, brags Lucas, a military transport ferrying Henry Kissinger doubled as his drug mule.

He eventually ended up in prison and turned state’s evidence on the mobsters and crooked police with whom he had worked. Lucas is the first to admit that his story is not one to be envied or emulated. He explains that he turned to crime out of lack of options and argues that young poor black men today can do anything they want. “Go work on Wall Street,” says the retired gangster.

¢ Joe Mantegna (“Godfather III”) joins the cast of “Criminal Minds” (8 p.m., CBS) as David Rossi, a pioneer in behavioral analysis and best-selling author who feels compelled to return to the bureau.

As grisly whodunits go, “Criminal Minds” has a by-the-numbers feel to it. You can almost anticipate the action and even the dialogue and that Rossi will say that he’s returning for “unfinished business” somewhere during his first hour.

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ Trouble at the track on “Pushing Daisies” (7 p.m., ABC).

¢ Scheduled on “Wired Science” (7 p.m., PBS, check local listings): CAT scans and blood substitutes.

¢ Cleveland hosts Dallas in NBA action (7 p.m., ESPN).

¢ “Mythbusters” (8 p.m., Discovery) looks at trails of fire and exploding cars, burning bras and fizzling fuses.

¢ “Ghost Hunters Live” (8 p.m., Sci Fi) spends six hours in the haunted Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Ky.

¢ “What Happened When” (8 p.m., Discovery Times) recalls the mission of Apollo 13.

¢ Amityville and its horrors on “CSI: NY” (9 p.m., CBS).

¢ Danni betrays a confidence on “Life” (9 p.m., NBC).

¢ High-stakes poker on “Dirty Sexy Money” (9 p.m., ABC).

¢ “Taboo: Gross Food” (9 p.m., National Geographic) explores exotic cultures and extreme cuisine.

¢ “Final 24” (10 p.m., Biography) recalls Jim Morrison’s last day.