'Organized Crime' Loses Another Detective: Did Stabler's Brother Kill [Spoiler]?

Christopher Meloni

So much for the poor new guy. Just a few episodes after Sam (Abubakr Ali) was promoted to detective and brought onto the team, Law & Order: Organized Crime has killed him off. His somewhat rogue investigation into the veteran-run heroin operation got him killed, which we all discovered on Thursday when Stabler (Christopher Meloni), still undercover at the "honey farm," was ordered to bury the poor guy in the woods. He told an undercover Bell (Danielle Mone Truitt), who then had to tell the team and Sam's poor pregnant wife. Sam may not have been a member of the team for very long, but he certainly made an impression, and he will be missed. It would really be nice if this team could stop tragically losing members, though.

Things were tense in every direction of this heroin case. Randall (Dean Norris) decided to take it upon himself to find missing younger brother Joe Jr. (Michael Trotter) and got arrested for breaking into that office that Jr. allegedly sells wine from. Stabler, meanwhile, discovered that the one angry-looking woman working at the honey farm was actually an undercover ATF agent, there to take down one guy for weapons manufacturing. She was a helpful font of information, but she also warned Stabler she would not let him take her down with him. If that guy he hit ever woke up, she would not have his back.

Related: Everything to Know About 'Law & Order: Organized Crime' Season 4

That guy he hit, known as Hightower, then woke up. But with help from the ATF, Bell and the rest of the team got to him before he had the chance to share the truth about what really happened between him and Stabler.

Stabler also found himself bonding with the boss Angus (Stephen Lang) after they witnessed another vet pull out a gun at a meeting. Angus just wanted to help these guys, but he worried maybe the heroin was no longer actually that helpful. He later told Stabler he was getting out of the business, and paying off his anonymous partner known as Redcoat. Naturally, he asked Stabler to join him, but they were met with Redcoat representatives who just started shooting.

Vargas (Tate Ellington) used his AI system to track the SUV that Stabler and Angus met with, and discovered it returned to none other than the wine export warehouse where Joe Jr. works, which Randall just tried to break into. And of course, there was blood found in that warehouse belonging to Sam, and no sign of Joe Jr. anywhere. There's no way Joe Jr. is Redcoat, right? No offense, but he doesn't seem quite smart enough for that. It seems more like he's in deep trouble with whoever Redcoat actually is, if he's even still alive.

The next new episode arrives in two weeks, so all we've got is a boatload of questions until then.

Next, All the Stabler Family Secrets Revealed So Far on 'Law & Order: Organized Crime' Season 4