If you’ve got the money and don’t mind giving it to horrible, price-gouging dicks, you can always skip the crippling gas station lines and buy your fuel on the black market. There may be a shortage of fuel but there is no kind of shortage of people willing to sell it for $10 to $20 a gallon on Craigslist. In Flushing, Queens, somebody will let you drop by and fill up for $10 a gallon, but for $15 a gallon (at a ten-gallon minimum) you can get it delivered from someone out in Hewlett, Long Island, due east of JFK. Someone in Richmond Hill, Queens, is asking for offers from people who want to come by and fill up, with a listed price starting at $100 apparently for a five-gallon can. Someone else in Brooklyn also wants $100 for five gallons. Then there’s the person offering five gallons for $70, in batches as big as 45 gallons: “Discounts for multiple purchase (call your friends!).” And that’s just what was posted to Craigslist within the first two hours or so of Monday.
Meanwhile, Byline Beat’s editor-in-chief Michael Rusch tweeted Sunday night about running into a guy on the street in Brooklyn who was selling fuel for $10 a gallon, but figured he could get $11 or $12 a gallon once rush hour started. Councilman David Greenfield, of Brooklyn, replied that it was going for $8 a gallon near him, but, “u don’t really know what you get.” If we had to pick out a lesson in all this, it’s that if you’ve decided black market gas is for you, the best prices are on the street in Brooklyn, but for delivery service with a twisted, evil smile, you have to hit up Craigslist. Our best bet: fighting our way onto the subway if at all possible.
