Ebay Wonders: This Key Gives Omnipotence over New York

4:50 pm  |  21.01.2022

Every New York City firefighter has a set of keys they can use to stop elevators and turn off the power to every skyscraper. Now the keys have landed on eBay. Authorities sounded the alarm.


Five keys. Five metal objects; three of them rather inconspicuous, but two with handles carved in the shape of a cross, which open the way into the center of the city.

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One of the five keys that the man wanted to auction on eBay. They belong to the equipment of the US firefighters

Source: Screenshot The World

Five keys to control every elevator in New York; used to turn on and off power to skyscrapers; with which you have the power to plunge entire streets into darkness in no time at all.

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Keys that grant access to subway stations, but also to many fire stations.

And to what is probably the best-guarded construction site in the world at the address “One World Trade Center” – there the Freedom Tower is currently growing into the sky on the Ground Zero site.

Reporter Bids for the Keys

A retired locksmith named Daniel Ferraris, 69, from New Jersey just listed these five keys on eBay. According to the New York Post, a reporter bought them for less than $150.

He then tried the five keys: they work. But of course, those five keys could also have been acquired by someone who means less well with New York. A radical member of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, for example. Or an Islamic terrorist who wants to take revenge for a real or imagined offense against the Prophet. Or some other lunatic. Daniel Ferraris is not available for the press, he does not give any interviews.

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No Explanation How Keys Got Into the Net

The five keys that are part of the standard equipment of every firefighter in New York can no longer be found on the eBay site.


But it’s unclear how many of those five-key sets had found buyers before the New York Post reporter noticed them.

A member of the fire brigade is beside himself that it could come to this. And Bill de Blasio, who represents New Yorkers as the ombudsman to the city’s mayor, has addressed the press with a statement: “We cannot allow someone to sell the safety of eight million people so easily. Having these keys available on the open market is literally putting lives on the line. The billions we have spent fighting terrorism are seriously challenged by this security breach.”

De Blasio also said: “There can be no hesitation in closing this gap. The city must buy back any remaining keys or block this sale. We need a quick investigation into how these keys fell into such unsafe hands. And we need a process to prevent a security breach of this magnitude from ever happening again.”

More Items on Offer

Meanwhile, it is unclear whether Daniel Ferraris broke the law when he sold the fire department keychain on eBay. What is clear, however, is that he has similar keys for Boston and Los Angeles on his website. He claims those keys are “obsolete,” but experts have their doubts.

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And on a cross wrench from the Los Angeles Fire Department, there is a note: “I also have items that are NOT allowed to be sold on eBay.”

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