A graduate in law (1980) and a qualified journalist (since 1982), he was one of the founders of La Rete and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the Sicilian Regional Assembly in 1991.

The report criticized the governments of Poland and Romania for failing to cooperate with investigations, and also chastised several top EU officials [1].

He co-wrote the screenplay of the movie One hundred steps (I cento passi) about the life and death of Antimafia activist Giuseppe Impastato in 1978 that won the Venice Film Festival in 2001 for the best script.

In December 2015, a new parliamentary group was created in the Camera dei deputati (Chamber of Deputies), the Sinistra Italiana (Italian Left).

Fellow prominent members include the former party chairman and candidate for the 2013 general election Pierluigi Bersani and the former House Majority Leader Roberto Speranza.