CLEVELAND, Ohio — FBI agents and local police dismantled a suspected Chicago-to-Cleveland heroin pipeline Thursday and arrested most of the accused players.

The FBI first began investigating the drug ring in 2010 after an informant tip, according to court records that have since been sealed at the FBI's request.

The FBI arrested 28 of 31 people charged in the drug ring, including several from Chicago. The three still at large are Reuben Bell, 27, LaToya Johnson, 30, and James McClain, 32.

One man in custody is the accused organization leader Mark Makupson, 33. Court records obtained by the Northeast Ohio Media Group say Makupson bought heroin from a Chicago distributor, and doled it out to street dealers in Cleveland.

One of the drug dealers in Makupson's organization, Harry Hubbard, 29, sold heroin from his auto repair shop on Superior Avenue and East 40th, records say.

Another, Brian Singleton, 34, coordinated drug deals from the Cuyahoga County Jail with is girlfriend. Singleton was jailed on $500,000 bond at the time while he faced charges for possessing nearly a kilogram of heroin.

He coordinated drug sales with his girlfriend, Carmelita Seay, 31. Seay spent eight years in prison for helping plan the robbery of a convenience store in 2001, according to court records. The store owner fired shots at the two robbers, who returned fire and killed the man.

Agents believe a Chicago man named Gardner Witt, 43, supplied heroin to the drug ring, according to court records. He was also in custody on Thursday.

Witt, in 2012, was caught bringing heroin to an Akron drug dealer by the Drug Enforcement Agency. Investigators found 258 grams of heroin in the car Witt was driving and later found 748 grams of the drug in the Akron dealer's home.

Witt was sentenced to one year of probation. The Akron dealer was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

About a dozen FBI agents in camouflage riot gear who carried assault rifles entered one home Thursday in the 1400 block of East 92nd Street.

Some agents spoke with a woman and a man outside the home as other agents searched the home.