Aiello was born in Partanna, Sicily, in 1967. In 1985, whilst in her teens she was forced to marry the son of a mafia boss, Nicola Atria. Her father-in-law, Vito Atria was killed nine days after they married. She did not love her husband and took the pill to avoid giving birth to a child. Her husband found out and raped her. Her husband was killed in 1991 and she and her three-year-old daughter witnessed the killing. She decided to name her husband's killers, a decision supported by her sister-in-law Rita Atria and antimafia magistrate Paolo Borsellino. The judge was later killed in the Via D'Amelio bombing on 19 July 1992, less than two months after his colleague Giovanni Falcone had been killed.