Selwyn Raab (born June 26, 1934 in New York City) is a journalist, author and former investigative reporter for The New York Times. He has written extensively about the American Mafia and criminal justice issues.
A native New Yorker, Raab grew up on Manhattan's Lower East Side. He attended Seward Park High School and later graduated from the City College of New York where he received a B.A. degree in English Literature in 1956. At City College he was campus correspondent for The Times and an editor of Observation Post, a student newspaper. His first jobs as a reporter were with the Bridgeport Sunday Herald newspaper in Bridgeport, Connecticut and The Star-Ledger newspaper in Newark, New Jersey.
From 1960 to 1966, he joined the New York World-Telegram and Sun. He was originally assigned as an education reporter. On the education beat he covered declining reading and mathematics test scores, attempts to unionize teachers and racial integration disputes until he discovered that mob-connected contractors were behind a major scandal concerning improper construction and renovation which endangered the safety of thousands of students in the school system.