For the better part of a year, federal investigators tracked Isaiah Hicks' movements. They listened to cell phone calls, made undercover drug buys and at one point trailed his girlfriend from Chicago to suburban Harvey, where the reputed Gangster Disciple had set up a safe house.

Federal officials say 32-year-old Hicks, along with 19 co-defendants, was arrested Wednesday and remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing scheduled for Tuesday. He isn't the first person accused of leading a sale operation out of the suburbs.

But federal officials and experts said Hicks probably won't be the last and simply is the latest to migrate to the suburbs, something that has been going on for the better part of 15 years.

Jim Wagner said law-abiding suburban residents shouldn't be surprised to learn their neighbors are running a drug operation via a cell phone and an Internet connection out of their home.

"For a lot of the drug leaders, they want to get into a better lifestyle for themselves, and many of them have families so they move to better housing and move to safer communities," said Wagner, who heads the Chicago Crime Commission and likened the process to young business executives rising through the ranks from a city apartment dweller to a homeowner in the suburbs.

"That's exactly the attitude," he said. "Just like anyone else rising in their economic status. You try to make the environment better for you and your family.

"They would prefer to enjoy the open space, so to speak. They are keeping a low profile and trying to stay off the law enforcement radar screen."

One apparent example is Kevin "Chocolate" Carter, an alleged kilo-level drug dealer who moved out of Gary's Glen Park neighborhood into Schererville's Foxwood Estates subdivision.

Don Rospond, the lead agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration office in Merrillville, said Carter maintained a rental property business with scores of Gary houses, which could have explained to neighbors the $160,000 Bentley convertible and the flashy diamond jewelry.

After a four-year investigation into a drug distribution ring, federal agents arrested Carter in January at his Foxwood Drive home. He has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to appear Tuesday in federal court in Hammond.

Wagner said logic might take away some of the surprise for suburban residents.

"It's not unique," he said. "Some have families they are trying to provide for, and they want their children to go to good schools and live in a better environment."

Law enforcement plays a role in fostering migration as well.

In Chicago, high-level gang members and drug dealers face intense scrutiny from police, the FBI and other federal agencies, said Don Soranno, an assistant special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Chicago.

"You have every federal and local acronym in the city working on gang, drug and gun issues," he said. "These guys then move out to an area where there might not be as much enforcement.

"They are removing themselves to insulate themselves from what is going on. It creates a distance and a comfort zone."

According to an in-depth study released this month by the Lake County Drug Free Alliance, the distance may only grow.

The study, presented as an inaugural epidemiological profile of Lake County for the Drug Free Alliance, said there is a movement afoot by the region's estimated 2,500 gang members to spread drug trafficking activities to suburban communities in eastern and southern Lake County and neighboring Porter County.

The Crime Commission's Wagner said the strategy comes in part thanks to the almighty dollar.

"In the suburbs, there is likely to be more disposable income for people to purchase their products -- whatever their drug of choice is," he said. "The trend is pretty obviously going to continue to move into the suburban areas.

"Wherever the product can be sold is where they are going to go. Most small towns have already seen it, and I think it going to continue."

-- Times Staff Writer Joe Carlson contributed to this report.

BREAKOUT

SOME RECENT HIGH-LEVEL BUSTS

-- Wednesday, federal law enforcement officials rounded up 20 reputed Gangster Disciples as part of Operation Dead-eye, a yearlong investigation into a drug operation in a Chicago neighborhood bordered by West 54th Street on the north, Garfield Boulevard on the south, South Hoyne Avenue on the west and South Seeley Avenue on the east. Although the gang's activities centered on this area, its influence was far wider, federal officials said, noting the alleged leader Isaiah Hicks ran the operation from a home in suburban Harvey.

-- In February, authorities charged 13 people from Hammond and Dyer after a drug sting that netted 17 kilograms -- about 37 pounds -- of powder cocaine during a traffic stop in Porter County. The drugs allegedly were purchased in Mexico and stored in a warehouse in Chicago.

-- After four years of investigation, authorities brought charges against seven people in January in an alleged distribution ring centered on the Schererville home of Kevin "Chocolate" Carter, who has pleaded not guilty. Authorities said they seized from the home more than 100 pounds of marijuana and several luxury vehicles, including a 2005 Bentley.

-- In October, six people were charged with taking part in a large-scale cocaine distribution ring involving members of the Northwest Indiana branch of the Latin Dragons street gang. The gang's purported leader, Rosalio Rincon, of Merrillville, was fatally shot by a DEA agent who was attempting to make an arrest on drug distribution charges.

-- In early 2007, federal authorities brought charges against 17 people accused of operating a widespread heroin distribution ring in Porter County. Everyone in the case was charged with conspiring to possess heroin, with the exception of Matthew Bishop, of Crown Point, who faced charges of distributing heroin. Bishop and three others have pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute the drug.

-- In April 2006, authorities charged Santiago Castenada and three alleged partners with distribution and conspiracy to distribute heroin after a seizure of 138 kilograms of cocaine and 8 kilograms of heroin at two locations in Northwest Indiana and Illinois. At the time, DEA officials called it one of the largest drug busts in Lake County history.

-- In 2005, reputed gang member Lee Dickens was charged along with three co-defendants with distributing marijuana and kilogram quantities of cocaine. Court records said Dickens bought the drugs from a distributor and sold them to street dealers in the Calumet section of East Chicago.