Emily Sweeney (journalist)

Emily Sweeney
Sweeney in 2026
Born
Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Alma mater
Occupations
  • Author
  • journalist
Years active2003–present
EmployerThe Boston Globe

Emily Sweeney is an American journalist and crime reporter from Massachusetts who works as a columnist for The Boston Globe.

Early life and education

Sweeney grew up in Dorchester, the daughter of Jeannie and Robert J. Sweeney.[1][2][3] She graduated from Boston Latin School, where she played ice hockey on the boys varsity team and lettered in softball, soccer and hockey.[4] She then went on to Northeastern University, where she played four seasons on the women's ice hockey team which won the 1997 ECAC hockey championship.[1][5] She graduated from Northeastern with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1998.[2]

Career

Sweeney has been a staff writer at The Boston Globe since 2003.[6] She covers local news. Her weekly column, Blotter Tales, appears in the Metro section every Sunday. She also writes a newsletter for The Boston Globe called Cold Case Files.[7] Her areas of expertise include local history, including crime and technology.[8]

Sweeney's expertise has led to her appearance on many TV and radio programs including Court TV, the Travel Channel, Science Channel, Beat the Press, Bloomberg Radio, and NESN.[6][9] She was a guest expert in Bloody Boston, a documentary series about organized crime in Boston, and she appears in three episodes of the Netflix series How To Become a Mob Boss.[6]

She is also the author of three books including a curated series of crime photographs for Arcadia Publishing called Boston Organized Crime and a book about the history of Boston-area mobsters called Gangland Boston.[10][11] Gangland Boston includes a section about the life of Whitey Bulger, a crime boss in the part of Boston where Sweeney grew up.[12] Her biography of John "Dropkick" Murphy, Dropkick Murphy: A Legendary Life, was published in 2023. Murphy is the namesake of the band Dropkick Murphys.[13]

Sweeney produces multimedia content for The Boston Globe.[14] In 2025 she created an interactive feature for The Boston Globe called "When Travel was Treacherous for Black People: The Green Book's Legacy in New England", documenting over 300 Green Book locations in New England.[15] Sweeney does reporting on the newspaper's Instagram account where she often receives kudos for her local accent.[16] In April 2026 her reporting on a local burglary went viral on TikTok and Instagram.[17][18] This popularity helped shift her into being "a regular on the paper's social platforms."[19]

Bibliography

  • Boston Organized Crime (2012) ISBN 978-0-7385-7673-2
  • Gangland Boston (2017) ISBN 978-1-4930-3036-1
  • Dropkick Murphy: A Legendary Life (2023) ISBN 978-1-949590-64-7
  • Four on the Floor: The Story of Bobby Luisi and Boston's Last Mob War (2026) ISBN 978-1-949590-67-8

References

  1. 1 2 "Emily Sweeney". BostonGlobe.com. November 4, 2025. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  2. 1 2 "Q&A: Emily Sweeney, Boston Globe reporter". Quill. Society of Professional Journalists. May 2, 2005. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  3. ↑ "Lauralee Summer, Emily Sweeney", New York Times, July 23, 2006, ISSN 0362-4331, retrieved April 4, 2026
  4. ↑ Pave, Marvin (April 12, 1998). "2 West Roxbury Players Shine for NU Hockey Squads". Boston Globe. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  5. ↑ Sweeney, Emily (December 8, 2025). "For Northeastern women's hockey players, one last twirl at Matthews Arena is bittersweet". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 Watertown, Historical Society (November 8, 2018). "Gangland Boston: A Tour Through the Deadly Streets of Organized Crime, A slideshow lecture by author Emily Sweeney". Watertown Historical Society. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  7. ↑ "The Boston Globe". Cold Case Files Sign-Up Form. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  8. ↑ Williams, Ben (October 2, 2007). "Journalism lecture held on campus". Massachusetts Daily Collegian. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  9. ↑ Sweeney, Emily (October 11, 2023). "Cold Case Files: A new series in The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved April 5, 2026.
  10. ↑ "Boston Organized Crime". Arcadia Publishing. January 1, 1970. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  11. ↑ Salza, Marianne (March 30, 2023). "Emily Sweeney Discusses Her Book 'Gangland Boston' at West End Museum – Beacon Hill Times". Beacon Hill Times – Beacon Hill. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  12. ↑ Ibelle, Bill (August 9, 2018). "You've heard of Whitey Bulger. This book maps the bloody history that helped him become king of Boston crime". Northeastern Global News. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  13. ↑ Santoro, Henry (July 21, 2023). "The real Dropkick Murphy was a doctor, professional wrestler and New England legend". GBH. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  14. ↑ "Watch: Critiquing Hollywood's Boston accents". Boston.com. December 24, 2024. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  15. ↑ Hernandez, Luis (February 14, 2025). "Mapping the Green Book in New England". TPR: The Public's Radio. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  16. ↑ "Boston Globe". Instagram. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  17. ↑ Ebben, Paula (April 27, 2026). "Boston Globe reporter Emily Sweeney goes viral because of her Boston accent and track suits: "I don't put on any airs"". CBS Boston. Retrieved April 28, 2026.
  18. ↑ Pilat, Kasia PilatKasia; Boston, who grew up outside; Yahd.", has long known you can't "pahk your cah in Hahvahd (April 15, 2026), Why Is Everyone Wicked Obsessed With This Boston Globe Reporter?, ISSN 0362-4331, retrieved April 28, 2026
  19. ↑ Greenwell, Megan (May 7, 2026). "Emily Sweeney breaks out of Boston". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved May 24, 2026.
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