After a Philosophy degree achieved at the University of Perugia (12.11.1986) with full marks and honour (110/110 summa cum laude) and recommendation of the degree thesis by Royal National Lincean Academy, she received a Postgraduate Diploma in Methods of School Evaluation (1987/1988) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Didactics at La Sapienza University in Rome (1988/1989).

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD in Medical Anthropology) at the University of Perugia (6.5.1993), she achieved a Postdoctoral Research Scholarships at the University of Palermo. After a competition she became Senior Research Fellow (Area SPS/08) in Sociology of cultural and communicative processes at the Faculty of Sciences of Education of the University of Palermo (16.6.99). Besides, after a university competition, she became Associate Professor - Area SPS/12, Sociology of Law, of Deviance and Social Change - at the Faculty of Sciences of Education of the University of Palermo (30.12.2004).

Since 2002 she has been a member of the PhD Committee in Sociology, Territory and Rural Development at the University of Palermo. She is tutor of two research grants (Area SPS/12): the first one titled "Online consultation and policies. An international comparison", assigned in 2005 and renovated in 2007; the second one titled "The role and the presence of Cosa Nostra in the investigations about slaughter and newfascist plots of the post-war period", assigned in the 2008.

She is member of Scientific Commitee of the University Senate of the University of Palermo for the Area 14 - Political and Social Sciences.

Associate Professor - Area SPS/12, Sociology of Law, of Deviance and Social Change - at the Faculty of Sciences of Education of the University of Palermo, she undertakes teaching and research activities, studying processes of social construction of deviance, of labelling dynamics and of different sorts of malaise and social marginality.

Scholar of mafia phenomena, she has applied the ethnographic method to the analysis of the symbolic processes and to the study of the internal changes in Sicilian Mafia.
Furthermore, she has studied the identity forms and the features of female-roles in mafia criminal organisations, dwelling on the analysis of their change.
She has deepened the understanding of the connections between mafia and religion, looking for historical roots and symbolic dimension, using historical references, judicial documents and interviews to support her arguments.
In her most recent researches, she has given great care to the international network of mafia, studying the relationship among Cosa Nostra, the business world and the political one, delving into the connection between mafia organised crime and transnational economic crime. On the subject she organised an international seminar about the mafia-method in 2007 and another one in 2008 - now in progress - about links between mafia and white-collar crime.

Since 1999/2000 Academic Year she has been teaching different courses at the Faculty of Sciences of Education of the University of Palermo, like Sociology of Education; Sociology of Justice, of Deviance and of Social change; Sociology of Cultural and Communicative processes; Sociology of Cultural and Communicative processes in Sicily: gender identity and mafia phenomenology at the degree courses in Communication, Psychology, Journalism and Sciences of Education.
Moreover, she has taught different courses for the Master's Degree Programs in Legal Psychology; Immigration, Political Asylum and Citizenship; Protection of children and teenagers; Community for Chilhood, Teenager and mental health. She has also taught Sociology for the Radiology Degree Course at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Palermo, Institutions and Techniques for protection of human rights, Legal Institution and social change for the Postgraduate School in Institutions and Techniques for protection of human rights and Sociology of Education for the Postgraduate School in Pedagogy.

She has been also nominated Lecture for training courses by different Professional and Research Centre such as CERISDI in Palermo (september 1998), CUOA in Vicenza (september 1999), CEFPAS in Caltanissetta (2000-2001), MIUR-COMPU in Palermo (2004).
She has also been adviser and lecturer for numerous structures of the judiciary area. In 2002 she lectured for DAP (Department for Penal Affairs) of Ministry of Justice in a course addressed to higher managers on duty in Sicilian prisons. In July 2003 she lectured for the Ministry of Justice in a course addressed to clerks on duty in Judiciary Offices of the District of Court of Appeal of Palermo. Moreover, in 2007 she lectured in a course on The penal Justice for the C.S.M. (Office Responsible for ensuring the Independence of the Judiciary).

From 2000 to 2001 she has been lecturer for CEFPAS Centre of Caltanissetta in six courses addressed to officers of the Local Department of health.

She is member of national and international research groups dealing with the organizing patterns of mafia-like organizations and their changes: among these, the Department of Penal Sciences and Criminology of the University of Palermo, the ECPR/European Consortium of Political Research and the University of Leeds (GB).

From 1999 to 2002 she has been member of Research Units financed with funds ex quota 60%.

From 2003 to 2006 she has been Scientific Responsible of Research Programs financed with funds ex quota 60% (Change Processes in the role and the image of State witnesses. Sociological, Political and Judicial Aspects, 2003; Changes of mafia-like organisations in the globalization, 2004/2005; Organised Crime and tension strategy, 2006/2007).

In 2001 she was a member of a Research Co-Founded Project. From 2004 to 2006 she has been the Scientific Responsible of the Research Unit of a project co-founded as a Plan of Major National Interest (Prin 2004) - Committee 11, which had the title "Being a State witness wears out: experiences and motivations of State witnesses among individual dimensions".

From 2006 to 2008 she has been the Scientific Responsible of the Research Unit of a project co-founded as a Plan of Major National Interest (Prin 2004) - Committee 11, which had the title "The three Mafias: networks; cultural hybridization and power relationships among Cosa Nostra, ‘Ndrangheta and Camorra".

She is member of an Innovative Research Project which has the title "Health and Society in Sicily: institutions, rules, values and life styles in the last thirty years", financed in 2007 by the University of Palermo.

She has published almost 110 works, some of whom in foreign language, on the subjects of her research, among monographies, features, reports for national and international convention, encyclopaedia item, multimedia materials, etc.

Since 1997 she has taken part in almost 80 national and international conventions, submitting reports about mafia-like organised crime, social marginality, international terrorism and female condition.

Most recently, she has organised an International Seminar which has the title "The mafia-like method: from the traditional mafia organizations to the criminal system", taken off in Palermo from October 19, 2007 to December 14, 2007 in collaboration with the Office for the Professional Training of the C.S.M. (Office Responsible for ensuring the Independence of the Judiciary), Department of Palermo.
She has also organised the second edition of the above-mentioned seminar with the title "The white collar crime", in Palermo from November 2008 to March 2009. In its second edition the seminar aims delving into the role played by white collar workers in the mafia organizations, in reference to money laundering methods and speculation. In this second edition, which is in progress, there are almost 200 participants (undergraduate and postgraduate students, officers of law-enforcement agencies, magistrates, social operators and teachers).

She is member of Editorial Committee of the magazine «Meridiana», of the Scientific Committee of the magazine «Narcomafie», of «Liberi Editori» of Napoli, of Direction Committee of «Historia Magistra. Rivista di storia critica».