Poker ethics question

[ChicagoTroy]

I was playing in a $6-12 game at Ameristar in St. Louis this weekend, and I saw an interesting phenomenom. This game consisted mostly of about half tight-aggressive regulars (some very tight) and half very bad players. I was chatting with strong player to my immediate left, and once I made some good plays, he did something strange. Almost every time he was going to raise preflop, he acted out of turn, right after I looked at my own cards. Knowing that I had to call two bets rather than one, I obviously had a big advantage and folded my 1-bet hands. The other trio of strong players were seated next to each other on the other side of the table, doing the same thing. The know-nothing players never complained, and the dealer never warned anybody for acting out of turn. The game turned into a strong player isolating one or two knuckleheads who would call with damn near anything, with the other strong players staying out of his way.

This struck me as unethical, since the guy to my right was buddying up to me in a way that violates the rules. It also greatly increases the advantages of strong players. Am I way off on this? Has anybody else seen this behavior and do you consider it collusion?