The third season of Law & Order: Organized Crime premiered on September 22, 2022, on NBC and consisted of 22 episodes. The season finale aired on May 18, 2023.
During the War in Ukraine, a teen girl's whole family is killed. She comes to New York, where she gets trafficked. She is running in the street with blood on her face when Frank Cosgrove finds her and she gets hit by a car. While he is leading EMTs to her, the perp kills her and gets away before Cosgrove can react. Cosgrove teams up with Jalen Shaw to work on the case. They find out that the girl was living with her aunt and was missing for two months. They also find out from the M.E. that saltwater was on her hands. They learn there was a yacht party going on at a local pier. They go to the owner of the yacht, who says he leases it out to people. They visit Olivia Benson, who gives them access to the cameras in the area. They find out that there was someone chasing the teen. When they go to visit the person, Mark Sirenko, Cosgrove threatens him. Cosgrove gets questioned by Elliot Stabler, as OCCB had been investigating Sirenko for organized crime ties. When they find out that Stabler has a CI in Sirenko's employ, Stabler refuses to get him involved, but then changes his mind after Cosgrove says that was not like the Stabler he'd heard about. Stabler's CI clones Sirenko's phone and almost gets killed in the process. Stabler has Benson try to find information on a woman they found on Sirenko's phone. SVU finds her location and Cosgrove and Stabler raid the house. They arrest the woman and find a 14-year old girl in a bedroom.
The Special Victims Unit is called in to cooperate when Junior Suarez is linked to a rape for hire case they are working. Benson and Stabler go to Greenhaven to check Suarez's cell and find a phone. While there, Benson has an uncomfortable reunion with Oscar Papa, the leader of BX9. Sergeant Bell later interviews Maria Varga and identifies Juarez as her attacker. Slootmaekers finds he was paid in bitcoin and got the job online. Whelan and Reyes are tasked with checking the computer of Derek Scully, Varga's previous employer, but discover it was his wife who hired Juarez from a website called "Shadowërk," a kickstarter for the depraved. On the site, they find the selfies of rapes committed, along with a list of other requests for violent crime. They find nine users who wanted Rachel Lee Sprague murdered and Stabler has them arrested. They question her next door neighbor, who reveals he put $500 down on a crowdfunding for Sprague's murder. Further looking at Shadowërk's site uncovers the site works worldwide, with taken jobs marked by katana symbols. Shortly, a hit is put out for Gary Longo, a bookie, and Stabler and Whelan rush to the Bronx to stop the job. They prepare a sting on his apartment and a suspicious Core Global delivery truck driver "Josh Crocklen" approaches with a gun and is arrested. He reveals that everything goes through someone named Hyakunin Giri who receives the selfies. Once Hyakunin Giri's IP is traced to Dublin, Ohio, McCrary is put on the investigation. After sending a fake selfie for Longo's "hit," Crocklen gets paid millions. Stabler goes to Rollins and she profiles someone who feels powerless in his own life. McCrary returns when Shadowërk puts out a hit on Barbara Zeigler, a Federal judge who is later found murdered.
Shadowërk puts a bounty on Oliva Benson and Elliot Stabler worth $50,000. Jacob Bettencourt, an IT worker in association with Shadowërk, is questioned by Whelan and Reyes. In response to the bounty, the Feds take Benson and Stabler off active duty. Linda Wilkie is questioned and investigating her leads to her son, Kyle, who was coding at summer camp the past five years. The police and FBI raid the Wilkie home, but Kyle is not there. Benson and Stabler are attacked at a diner and, after Benson is shot, she kills the perp. Linda Wilkie gets a lawyer before she is questioned by Sergeants Bell and Finn. She refuses to give him up until Rollins speaks with her about a suicide note he left on Christmas. They locate him at the currently closed summer camp and find the selfies on his cabin wall. Unfortunately, Kyle shoots Whelan in the neck. Wilkie stabs himself after seeing Stabler. This forces the medics to prioritize saving Kyle over Whelan. Wilkie is taken to prison hospital. Kyle is forced to shut down Shadowërk when his mother is brought up on charges and extradited from Ohio. Whelan is paralyzed when he comes out of surgery and his visiting father takes him off life support. Wilkie goes to prison for life.