Regarding the theft of the 157 guitars from Italy - how could anyone seriously expect to get away with that? It's not like the owner will just shrug his/her shoulders and say oh well, there goes my entire vintage guitar collection. The guitars were always going to end up getting traced through the internet.
The big problem is that the new "owners" will lose the guitars (when they're traced) as legally they don't own the instruments. Then they have to bring a civil case against whoever sold the stolen kit. All very messy and unpleasant.